Oblivion
by Horo-Emptiness
Summary: *AU* "Hey, don't worry. All ya gotta worry about here is us... and tha ghosts." The pale teen smirked before heading back towards the lake. Great. Just what he needed...
1. Hell on Earth

...

_O_b_l_i_v_i_o_n

-Hell on Earth-

...

_"Fear is the emotion that makes us blind." -Stephen King_

...

"Ulquiorra! Time to wake up!"

Large, emerald eyes flickered over to the digital clock before retreating back under the snowy white comforter covering their owner.

"It's seven in the morning... on summer vacation. Let me sleep in for once..." he called back in a drowsy, monotonous voice.

"We talked about this earlier. Now get up and get ready!" his mom chirped, grabbing the fluffy blanket and flipping him out of bed with one quick pull.

The disgruntled teen fell to the floor with a thud, sitting up a second later to glare at her.

"We're leaving in half an hour. Make sure you pack your toothbrush!" The door to his bedroom slammed shut a second later, causing a small ornament to fall off of his chock-full bookshelf.

Ulquiorra sat on the floor for a bit longer, staring at the door in annoyance, before he stood and stretched. A day into his vacation and his mom was already getting on his nerves... Not a good sign.

He padded over to the bookshelf and retrieved the fallen statuette, setting it back up after seeing that it wasn't damaged. The statuette was his favorite- a gift from his dad from when he was five. It was just a simple, white marble carving, depicting a large, oddly shaped crescent moon framing a robed figure, who was holding what looked like a lance. Or a sword. It really didn't matter to him, as it had been the last thing that his father had given to him before he went away... and never came back.

Coming back from his sea of sorrowful memories, he sighed and let his eyes roam his unusually neat room, finally coming to settle on a gray duffle bag that was hiding halfway under his bed. After making up his bed and tossing the bag up on it, he went to his closet, picking out a shirt and pair of pants at random and making sure that they were okay before heading to the bathroom to go through his normal morning routine.

Returning, minus his night clothes, he decided that he should at least pack for whatever it was that his mom had planned. But first...

The pale teen pulled open his desk's bottom drawer and retrieved a small bag from it. He used the contained make-up so rarely that he didn't feel the need to store it in the medicine cabinet or anything. If he did, then his mom would probably throw it out anyway. Today seemed like a good day to use it, though. The raven-haired teen poked around in the bag for a minute, then worked his magic with a few items. A minute later, two teal tear marks were leading down his cheeks.

Chuckling inside, refusing to break his emotionless state of being even while alone, he replaced the eyeliner and mirror back in the bag. The make-up really didn't sit well with his mom; she said that it "gave people the wrong impression", not that he really knew what she was talking about. Ulquiorra didn't really care what people thought of him, even if it was totally incorrect. The tear marks just seemed right since he was being forced out to an unknown destination soon.

Plugging in the small speaker system on his desk and plugging his iPod up to it, he put it on Shuffle and adjusted the volume. Not to loud, but loud enough that the music was clear. The idiots that blasted their music loud enough to shake cars didn't know what they were missing. _World So Cold_ soon began playing, and as it did, he began packing for whatever this cold-hearted world was about to throw at him.

He shouldn't have to be doing this. Summer vacation is a time for relaxing! Just kicking back, grabbing a cold drink, and watching the sunsets. Or the nightlife. It was not the time for moms to be dragging their teenage kids off somewhere at _seven in the morning._

_'She didn't even tell me where we're going...'_ Ulquiorra thought, contemplating what to bring in terms of clothing. He just shrugged and put in what he normally wore, along with some necessary articles of clothing. Not like he cared about how he looked or anything. After another second of thought, a few books and his iPod charger were also placed in. At least he would be entertained.

The clock on his nightstand read seven-forty-five, so he switched off the speaker system, cutting _Teenagers_ off in the middle and pocketing his iPod. Following the sounds and smells that accompanied breakfast, he wandered into the kitchen to find his mom cooking. Or just nearly burning everything. Whatever.

He sighed and switched off the burner on the stove, using an oven mitt to fan the air above the still-frying eggs to try and disspell the smoke coming from the burned ones before the smoke alarm caught scent of it. Luckily, the bacon next to them hadn't exploded or anything. Yet.

"You all packed, kiddo?" she asked him.

It took Ulquiorra a few seconds to understand what she had said due to her shoving a piece of toast into her mouth while sashaying over to the fridge.

When he actually did decipher the question, he replied "Yes, I think so. Where are we going, anyways?", before setting the plates of burnt breakfast food at the small table and taking a seat.

"Not we. You!" his mom said cheerfully, plopping an open carton of orange juice and two glasses down on the table, sending orange droplets flying across the tablecloth, which Ulquiorra automatically wiped up with a napkin out of habit.

"What do you mean, me?"

"I'm dropping you off!" she replied, showing another burst of happy energy and accidentally flinging a piece of bacon at Ulquiorra, who blocked it with a raised hand. Another piece of meat flew up and got caught in her own long black hair. She picked it out and set it aside without a second thought.

"Might I ask where?" he questioned, slightly irritated with her vagueness and the fact that she was basically having a one sided food fight with him.

"Mmm... You'll see when we get there."

She scrutinized his face and the marks drawn there for a second before speaking again. "Ulqui, darling, why do you have to wear that? It'll give people the wrong impression..." she told him yet again, looking concerned and leaning over the table in an attempt to swipe her thump across one of the teal lines.

Ulquiorra gently batted her hand away. "And what is this "wrong impression" that you keep mentioning?" While asking this, he sawed a piece of unburnt egg off, tasting it. _'Not bad.'_

"Um, sweetie..." She put her fork down and folded her hands in her lap, twirling her thumbs with nervousness. "I meant to ask you this earlier, but... um... There's nothing wrong with it, and I'm totally fine with it, so... tell me the truth, 'kay?"

_'Please don't ask what I think you're about to ask...'_ he thought, horrified at the prospect. Did he really give her enough of a reason to be asking? _'Please don't...'_

"Are you... You aren't... _gay_, are you?"

_'The world hates me...'_

He just gave her a shocked look, which she apparently took as a confirmation of her son's supposed homosexuality and burst into tears. "Oh, I just knew it!"

She continued to make a fuss for several minutes, managing to knock over her glass and fling her plate across the table in the process. Ulquiorra ignored this and tried to get her attention.

"Mom. _Mom..._ Mom!" She sniffled and looked up at him with her already red-tinted, normally green eyes. "I'm not gay, okay?"

His mom's eyes gained a glimmer of hope in their depths. "R-Really?"

"Really," he assured her, to which she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled softly.

"So I will be seeing some grandchildren in the future? Really, _really_ far in the future?"

"Mom!"

"Okay, okay." She glanced at the clock on the wall, having regained her composure. "Oh! Better get going. Go grab your bag," the black-haired woman told her son, turning to to clear the table. "Go on. Hurry, 'cause we can't be late."

Climbing the stairs to return to his room, Ulquiorra heard a shout following him. "And don't forget your toothbrush!"

Oh yeah. Right.

...

"Can't you at least tell me where we're going?" he asked for the fifth time that day.

They had been on the road for a few hours now, and Ulquiorra was now getting bored. He had already listened to almost half of the songs on his iPod and was now occupying himself by reading _The Silence of the Lambs_.

_'Whoa, messed up...'_ he thought before the sound of his mom talking brought him out of The World of Hannibal Lecter.

"You'll see. Only about... oh, thirty minutes left," she said after glancing at the GPS. "Maybe a bit more. The man I talked to said the road's a bit hidden..."

She muttered the last part, so Ulquiorra didn't quite catch it. He just sighed and pressed his forehead against the car window, enjoying it's coolness and watching the scenery flash by. Some ducks flew overhead. Maybe they were near water?

His mom looked out her window and seemed to be searching for something. The car slowed down to a standstill. "Is this...? Oh yeah! Found it!"

"This is where we're going?" Ulquiorra asked, observing that his mom seemed to be fixated on a narrow dirt road, almost completely hidden by some overhanging tall grasses and tree branches. It was just wide enough for a car to drive on, and the tree branches were just high enough so that a van would be able to pass under while just being scraped by some thin ones.

His mom turned the car onto the narrow road, somehow managing to not flatten the wildflowers growing alongside it. She took note of his expression and, in a total mom-like way, told him, "Don't worry sweetie. Mommy's not going to leave you in the middle of nowhere with the hippies."

He decided not to egg her on by complaining about the baby talk. "Well, what else is going to be out here?" he replied in an annoyed manner, gesturing at the surrounding forest.

"Ah, well... It's a little bit of a drive here... But there _are_ other kids your age here. I hope you'll make a friend or two. Or meet a nice girl. Or... guy." The worried look returned to her face.

"Mom, I'm not gay. I swear." He frowned as she went through her normal relieved actions. A friend? Last time his mom tried to help him with that, he and another nine-year-old ended up in a fistfight. The school ended up making him go to a psychologist, who called him antisocial.

The car stopped once again. Ulquiorra looked up hoping to catch a glimpse of where his mom had dragged him to, but found the car still surrounded by trees. He turned and gave his mom a questioning look, to which she said, "Oh, we've just got to walk a little. The road ends here. Come on, don't just sit there!". He began to be pushed against the door by his mom's sandled foot, forcing him to open it. "Out you go!"

Having no choice in the matter, he pulled the door handle and managed to grab his duffle bag before tumbling out of the car. His mom exited the car shortly afterwords, surveying the area for a second before walking straight ahead down a really narrow path, motioning for Ulquiorra to follow. He did, thinking that his mom was insane. Then again, the area was nice. Lots of foliage, plenty of animals, including, from the sound of things, lots of birds and cicadas.

They walked for about a minute before coming upon a large clearing, which, past a worn out fence, opened up to a campground. Or, at least, what looked like one.

Ahead, there were buildings (_'Cabins?'_ he guessed) arranged in two rows with one much larger one settled in the front, along with a smaller structure off to the left. Off a couple dozen feet to the right, there was another, longer, building, but Ulquiorra couldn't really tell what that one was.

Past these, a crystal clear lake stood calmly, its waters a deep blue. The whole area just looked natural, even the cabins, if that is what they were, people seeming to have very little impact on it, as far as the teen could tell. Speaking of people, Ulquiorra really didn't see anyone around. Well, it looked like there might be a few down by the lake, but still.

"Oh..." His mom looked around with wide, glittering eyes. "He said that the area was pretty, but... wow."

"Uh... so you're dropping me off _here_?" Ulquiorra asked, watching what looked like a leaf crawl on a bush. The "leaf" then struck out at a katydid and raised it to what the teen supposed was it's mouth. Ah, a praying mantis.

"Yeppers!" the woman beside him chirped. "Now, the nice man said something about the cabin marked first. Help me find it!"

_'The nice man?'_

"Uh, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that it's that one," he said, pointing a black-nailed finger at the building closest to them- the larger one on the end.

The long haired woman frowned at the nail polish decorating her son's hands, still believing that people would assume the worst. She didn't say anything; rather, she just lead her son around the rectangular building and looked at its front. Sure enough, a character that looked like a dash was carved above it's door.

"Okay then!" She marched up the steps leading to the door, knocking as her normal bubbly attitude returned.

Ulquiorra just stood there and stared at the building in front of him. He had immediately reconised the "dash" as standing for "first". His parents, being from a Japanese heritage, had made sure that he learned at least some characters for whatever reason. Although he didn't understand the majority of them, he could read basic things; his name, the numbers up to twenty, and a few miscellaneous ones.

The building was indeed a cabin like he had guessed, albeit larger than the other ones set in rows behind him. Chrysanthemums were planted all along the front of it, stopping at the bottom step. Looking behind him, he found that all of the cabins had a number at the top and some sort of flower planted in front.

Before he could really look closely, though, the door that his mom had knocked on opened, after which a somewhat high-sounding voice cut through the air.

"So this is our new camper, eh?"

Turning, Ulquiorra found a man standing in front of him, having come down the stairs in the short amount of time that he had been looking around. Not expecting him to be right there, Ulquiorra was, quite frankly, freaked right the hell out, not that he showed it. The man looked about thirty, with messy blond hair and a bit of stubble on his chin, and appeared as if he had just woken up from a nap, judging from the state of his hair and the crookedness of his clothes, which looked straight out of a shōnen manga. The stick from a lollipop was loosely hanging from his lips.

He smiled warmly at Ulquiorra before turning to his mom and pulling the lollipop out of his mouth. "Welcome! You're Ms. Cifer, right?"

She nodded, still a bit overwhelmed by her surroundings.

"And this is young..." His smile faltered.

"Oh! This is Ulquiorra!" Ms. Cifer exclaimed, immediately snapping out of her daze.

"Ah, Ulquiorra. Sorry about that. I was half asleep when I was talking to you!" he laughed, wrapping his lollipop in a plastic wrapper before whipping a fan out of nowhere and fanning himself lightly. "I'm Kisuke Urahara, by the way. But just call me Urahara! Everyone does."

Ulquiorra just stared at Urahara for a minute, then turned to his mom. "So what am I doing here?" He knew that it was a stupid question, but he _still_ didn't know what was going on.

Urahara gave him a curious look before turning to the boy's mom, who rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Um, this... was a surprise. He doesn't know anything."

He closed his fan with a snap of the wrist and pocketed it just like the lollipop. "Well, that's not a problem!" The man then explained.

"As you can probably see, I run a summer camp. All for teens!"

Ulquiorra's eyebrow twitched. "A... summer camp."

"Yes! Isn't it wonderful?" his mom asked, hugging him.

"How long do you expect me to stay here?"

"It's a summer-long camp. Whole summer!" Urahara informed him in his unusual voice. Ulquiorra was beginning to wonder if his clothes were made of hemp.

"The whole summer," he repeated, glaring at his mom.

"Well, you can't spend all summer locked in your room, can you?" she asked. Another totally mom-question.

"Don't worry!" Urahara told him, noticing the teen's annoyance. "Plenty to do around here! Even when it's raining. We have electricity, too."

Ulquiorra's brow furrowed at that. How did they have electricity? It's not like there were power lines or anything around...

The man continued on with his monologue. "Swimming, fishing, and other camp stuff. The other counselors can tell you more, but I think they're out on the lake now or something. Your cabinmates are here, though!"

Ulquiorra didn't say anything, but he supposed that his expression asked the question itself. Either that or Urahara was psychic, because he answered the question lurking at the front of the teen's mind.

"You'll be bunking with two other campers. Your age, so don't worry about that! Now..." He looked Ulquiorra over once more, paying special attention to the make-up and choice of clothing. It was kind of creepy. "Cabin Nine for sure!"

"Why Cabin Nine?" Ms. Cifer asked.

"Well, all of the other boy's cabins are full other than Six and Nine. And Six... Well, I don't really think Ulquiorra would enjoy himself there..."

"What do you mean by that?" the small woman demanded, thinking that Urahara was "getting the wrong idea".

"Oh! No no no _no_! I didn't mean it like that. The kids in Cabin Six... they're a bit... well, _flamboyant._"

"Oh." She blushed slightly while Ulquiorra just stood there silently. He figured that it was useless to fight this; he did _not_ need to feel the Wrath of Mom at the moment.

"...So anyways," the green-clothed man started, recovering from the awkwardness rather quickly. "Ms, Cifer, do you think you could fill out a little more paperwork for me? Just a page or two."

"Of course," she replied politely.

Five minutes later, all the forms had been filled out and Ms. Cifer was giving her son a tearful goodbye at the fence line. Ulquiorra was just standing there, trying not to be crushed while attempting to get over his withheld anger and accept his boring fate. If only he knew how wrong he was...

Urahara ended up having to pull her off her son and promise her that everything would be fine. He had then been hugged and things started up again. After he had been freed, his mom left to locate her car.

The fan-wielding counselor sighed while retrieving his lollipop. "Well, now that _that's_ over with... Welcome to the camp! Ready to meet your cabinmates?"

"I guess..." Ulquiorra muttered, wishing that his mom had taken him with him instead of leaving him with this strange, sugar-addicted man.

"Aw, cheer up, Ulquiorra-kun! They won't bite... Well, one might, but I already told him not to maim any of the other campers."

The teen just gave him a disturbed look.

"It was a joke..." he added, afraid that he had put the wrong idea into the teen's head. The two males just kept walking, Ulquiorra in silence and Urahara humming a song under his breath.

They soon stopped in front of one of the smaller cabins, this one with the Japanese character for "Nine" above the door and a group white flowers growing on the stairs' sides.

"Go on. They really won't hurt yo-" Urahara stopped and turned towards the lake, from where angry shouts were being emitted. Something about fish and shoes. He sighed once more. "I've... got to go deal with that. Have fun! I'll be back with something later."

Verdant eyes glared at him back as he walked hurriedly away. _'One might?'_ Seriously? He gave a sigh of his own and decided that he might as well just jump in, seeing that he was stuck there for the summer. Ulquiorra ascended the steps leading up to the solid brown door and reached for the rusty knob, but then froze. On second thought...

He knocked instead, waiting for a reply. A light thud issued from inside, which the teen took as a go ahead, hoping that he wasn't about to walk in on something that he really didn't need to see.

The first thing he noticed upon entering was the simplicity of the interior. Smooth, paneled wood walls, matching floor, a simple, red, squared rug in the center. Two trunks were set against the wall to his left, and to their opposite, a bunk bed. He noticed this all in mere seconds due to his attention to detail, but he didn't see the room's occupant until he spoke up.

"So you're the new kid? We kind of figured that Hat-and-Clogs would put you in here."

The speaker sat up, swinging his legs off the bottom bunk and standing, pausing to stretch as he did so. The fact that he didn't spot him unsettled Ulquiorra; the boy's clothes didn't even blend in with the tan blanket covering the bunk.

His apparent cabinmate studied him as much as he was him, looking him up and down with large, pale blue eyes. Not in a creepy way, though. His gaze was just as curious as Ulquiorra's. Maybe it was because of their similar styles.

He looked about Ulquiorra's age, similar in build, although he was a bit taller with dark brown, somewhat wavy hair falling to his shoulders. The teen was dressed in black jeans and a polo, along with a scuffed-up pair of Chuck Taylor's. In all, his appearance was _very_ similar to the shorter teen's in more ways than one.

"...Apparently, yes," the pale teen replied, still lingering on the fact that he hadn't seen him. Then he remembered that he should probably introduce himself. The other teen beat him to it.

"Don't be so jumpy. Whatever that fool told you was probably a lie. I'm Tensa, by the way." A pause. "And you're...?"

"...Ulquiorra."

"Ulquiorra... sounds Spanish," commented a watery voice, followed by a thump similar to the one that Ulquiorra had heard outside. He turned around and just about died from shock.

Standing behind him, apparently having jumped from the top bunk, was a downright demonic looking teen, maybe a bit taller than Tensa. Paper white skin, all white clothes, longish, spiky white hair, and white-on-freaking-black eyes staring straight at him. The albino gave Ulquiorra a wide, psychotic grin that made his blood run cold. It took all of his willpower _not_ to go running out of the cabin to find their seemingly high counselor.

"What, scared?" he asked, enjoying the gothic teen's shocked expression.

"Leave him alone, Ogihci. Urahara said that you're not allowed to haze the newbies," Tensa said, throwing a pillow at him.

"Whatever," Ogihci drawled, pulling a sports bottle down from his bunk and taking a drink. He glanced over his shoulder at Ulquiorra, who was still carrying his duffle bag. "Ya can just put your bag over there if ya wanna. Hat-'n-Clogs'll probably bring ya a trunk later."

"Hey, if he brings in another bunk, I call top," Tensa piped up, which caused the albino to start snickering. "Wha- Oi, pervert! Quit it!"

"Pffft... Ya gotta word things better, Zanny."

"You're the only one that would think about that. And quit calling me that!"

"Zanny?" Ulquiorra asked curiously while setting his bag down next to the trunks.

"Short for Zangetsu. My surname," he explained, glaring coldly at the ghost-like boy sharing the space. "He calls me it just to annoy me."

"That's 'cause yer name's weird!"

"It is not!"

"Why would he make fun of that?" Ulquiorra questioned, finding it weird that anyone would make fun of that name. Sure, it was odd, but still.

"I don't know... Can we talk about something else now?"

"Ooh, what about tha Campfire? Marshmallow time!" Ogihci sang out, looking delighted at the thought.

"You don't need any more sugar," his brown-haired friend told him before looking over at Ulquiorra. "You can meet the others tonight. In the meantime, did Urahara show you around camp?"

"No..." the boy responded, watching Ogihci, who had produced a sour gummy worm package from somewhere in the room and was now trying to wrench it open.

"Come on, then. Hey, don't get sugar everywhere! The ants will get in again!" Tensa told him sternly as the bag ripped open, sending multicolored candy worms everywhere.

"Crap!" He scrambled to pick them and the sugar up, remembering the last time the ants invaded. Not fun.

Tensa sighed, then walked out the doorway and descended the stairs, waiting for Ulquiorra at the bottom. After he joined him, he called back, "Hey, find us when you're done!", receiving a muffled, possibly vulgar, reply. He shrugged, then proceeded to give the new camper what he suspected was the grand tour.

The cabins were numbered One through Thirteen, all with Japanese characters at the top representing them ("Because Urahara's a manga freak," Tensa had explained.), along with flowers growing in front. All of the flowers were of different species, and it was the campers' job to keep them alive, which wasn't very hard, apparently; all of the plants were hardy breeds for obvious reasons. The counselors' cabins were the first three, with the campers occupying cabins Four through Nine. The last four had been empty for as long as Tensa knew, though no one seemed to know why.

If you kept walking past the cabins on the left, you got to the Firepit which Tensa remarked was more like a bonfire when lit because of its size. Large rocks and logs served as the seats around it, the rocks set farther away than the logs. You always had to check these for sheltering snakes or spiders due to the black widows taking a liking to them.

If you walked past the Firepit a ways, you eventually ended up at an old, mid-1800's through early-2000's cemetery. A lot of the campers apparently explored it every summer, including Tensa and Ogihci. They didn't go up there themselves, but Tensa mentioned that they would later.

While walking along the lake, which seemed to be overpopulated by small fish, though it seemed that the fish were just brooding here, they walked out onto a large, well-made dock. It easily went seventy-five feet out and was basically used for fishing and swimming off of. Boats would sometimes be docked there by other people living around the lake, mostly the counselors' friends.

Just as they were walking away from the shore towards the right side of camp, Ulquiorra heard a cheery, feminine voice call out from behind them. "Tensa! You wanna go crawdad hunting?"

He glanced over his shoulder and called back, "Not right now. We've got a newbie! And wait for the Campfire!"

" 'Kay! But you've gotta come tomorrow, okay? Bring him, too!"

"...Crayfish?" Ulquiorra asked, using the term that he was more familiar with.

"Yeah. Fun to catch. Plus, they make good bait," the other teen told him, stooping to pick up a flat rock before throwing and skipping it across the lake's surface. "Huh, five." He turned back to his fellow black-clad teen. "Hey, I'll be back in a second. Don't go to far."

He watched him walk off in the direction of the restrooms, which were in the longer building to the cabin's right, and wondered how exactly, or even if, they had plumbing. It wasn't that important. Well, not currently.

Ulquiorra turned to head back to the dock, figuring that he could go and watch the minnows dart around for a while, but bumped into something hard before he could even take a step and fell swiftly.

Rubbing his head and looking up, he almost had another heart attack when he saw that it was Ogihci standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking down at him. "Eh, what's with tha face? Scared?"

"No, you just surprised me, I guess," he said after regaining his composure, sitting up straight. It was the second time that he had missed something that day...

As he was standing, a snake decided that it was the right time to slither over his hand, which he jerked away. Okay, third.

Ogihci snickered at this motion and gently picked up the little garter snake, letting it slither through his fingers as he held it. "Hey, don't worry. All ya gotta worry about here is us... and tha ghosts." The pale teen smirked before heading back towards the lake.

Great. Just what he needed...

Wait, ghosts?

"Is Ogihci trying to scare you or something?"

Ulquiorra jumped at Tensa's question. When had he gotten back? What were these guys? Ninjas?

"...No, but..." he paused, uncertain if the question was okay to ask or not. "...he did mention something about ghosts..."

He didn't know what he had expected to happen; maybe for Tensa to burst out laughing or something. Surprisingly, the teen kept his serious expression. "Well..."

"Don't tell me..." he muttered, dreading the possibility. He and ghosts didn't really get along well.

"Uh... so, do you like the camp so far?" Tensa asked, attempting to distract him.

"I guess... Don't change the subject."

"Fine," he said, walking towards the lake. Ulquiorra followed him, sensing that he was going to continue talking.

"There's been some... weird things. Incidents, I guess," the teen said, watching a few of the small, silver minnows dart around in between the reeds. In the distance, Ogichi was crouched at the lakes edge, poking around in the water with a stick and watching the garter snake slither away into some nearby rocks.

"Like what?" Ulquiorra asked, curiously as they neared the dock.

He was silent until they began to walk along the dock's somewhat uneven wooden surface above the deep blue waters. "Ogihci and I... we've been coming here for years now. Probably longer than most of the others. You'll probably... start noticing things soon, just to warn you."

"What are you-"

"Wassup!" Ogihci yelled, springing up from behind them.

"Ah! What the hell!" Tensa cursed, swinging at the albino, who darted out of the way, giggling insanely.

"Is there something wrong with him? Specifically, his brain?" the green-eyed teen asked, pointing a finger at Ogihci.

"Hey! Like you can talk, _el que llora_," he retaliated, losing his grin despite the pun.

"Like I haven't heard that one before," he said, actually rolling his eyes. He caught something in the water with this action.

"Big fish," he remarked, watching the easily two, three-foot-long creature glide by, sinking lower into the water with every second.

"Catfish," Ogihci said, letting his faked anger subside. "They live around here. Weird tha' it's at tha surface."

"Hey, the sun's setting," Tensa said, catching their attention as he gazed at the orange orb perched on the horizon.

Ogihci laughed. "Campfire time! Come on!" He grabbed Ulquiorra's arm and started dragging him off the dock, Tensa following in his normal calm manner.

...

The trio arrived at the Firepit after a while of exploring the forest line. Urahara had told them that the other counselors were still AWOL, so they just went off to explore. Other campers were doing the same, but they kept their distance. Tensa explained that it was because they had a newbie in their group. Plus, they were just as excited for the fire as Ogihci was.

Ulquiorra really didn't get that, but when they returned, Urahara was over to the side setting up a table with two younger adults, who he guessed were the other counselors. One was fairly tall, with odd silver hair despite his age. The other was a dark skinned woman with her long, purple hair tied back into a high ponytail. They were setting out some food, sealed in plastic bags. All the while, Urahara kept eating what looked like chips. The purple-haired woman glared at him with startling golden eyes and slapped him, pointing her finger in the other direction and saying something about matches.

Urahara hung his head in mock shame for a second before he noticed the three boys. He got the other counselors' attention and nodded at them before sauntering off. They looked at the campers and smiled warmly, though the man had been smiling long before that.

"Hello," he sang, giving a small wave.

"Hi boys. This is the newbie, right?" she asked, placing one hand on her hip.

"Yep! This is Ulquiorra!" Ogihci happily informed them, swinging his arm around the teen's shoulder and pulling him close, his eyes remaining on a bag of marshmallows the whole time.

"Get off of him," Tensa snapped, pushing him off. "God, it's like he's horny twenty-four-seven..." he mumbled, looking away in annoyance.

"...Hello?" Ulquiorra tentatively greeted, looking at the albino standing a few feet away, who looked disappointed.

"He's always like that. Don't worry about it," the woman told him reassuringly. "I'm Yoruichi, by the way. The female counselor. This smiling idiot here is Gin. He's going to be you guy's counselor."

"Hey!" Gin exclaimed, frowning and faking hurt at Yoruichi's joking comment.

She snorted while rolling her eyes, then turned to fiddle with the marshmallows that Ogihci seemed to have his heart set on.

"Looks like the sun's finally going down," she commented, keeping her eyes fixated on the bag. "The others are going to start coming in soon."

Sure enough, other campers slowly began trickling in, acknowledging the counselors before plopping down on the various makeshift seats around the currently cold firepit.

Tensa and Ogihci led Ulquiorra to a large boulder, which was easily big enough for them to lounge on. While campers continued to slowly arrive, the members of Cabin Nine started up a dialogue about their lives at home.

"Hey, ya got any bros or sisters?" Ogihci asked. " 'Specially older, hot ones?"

Tensa smacked him upside the head for that.

"No. I live with my mom a few states away."

"With your dad?" the pale teen asked absentmindedly, leaning back on his elbows.

Ulquiorra remained silent.

"Oh. Damn, sorry dude."

"Uh... so..." Tensa quickly said, trying to shift the conversation away from the current topic.

"Really, it's fine," the messy-haired teen said in a slightly more depressed tone, examining his black fingernails.

"...Do you always dress that way?" the calm teen asked, gesturing at Ulquiorra's ripped, safety-pin bearing black jeans and slasher flick t-shirt.

"Do you mean the clothes? Yes. The make-up was mostly to get back at my mom. I'm thinking about keeping it up, though," he said thoughtfully, gently running his finger along one of his teal marks.

"Cool."

"...So along with what you asked earlier... where do you two live?"

"Few states over, same as you," Ogihci answered, looking up at the sky, where the stars were beginning to come out of hiding. "I live with my dad, lil' sisters, and bro. Oh, and Tensa here pretty much lives with us."

"I do not!"

"Dude, you're over there _all_ tha time. Before school, after school, weekends. At dinner, too. It's like ya never get fed!"

"Hey, Yuzu can cook. You've got to admit that."

"Yeah..."

"Who do you live with normally?" Ulquiorra asked, amused by their argument even though he didn't show it.

"With my dad. Mom's dead," he replied nonchalantly.

"...Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm surprised that I was born without a third eye or something. She smoked and drank _everything._ Basically offed herself."

Ulquiorra just stared at him, surprised at how he could handle that so well. Just when he was about to say something, several loud snapping sounds interrupted him. All three boys looked over, but it was just Gin breaking up some of the firewood and arranging it in the firepit. Yoruichi was preparing what looked like tinder, and Urahara was messing with a large box of matches off to the side.

"Hey, he finally got his hands on some good ones," Tensa remarked, looking fondly at them.

"Remember that time when it took, like, thirty minutes ta light it? Everyone was getting eaten alive by mosquitos."

"Yeah. Gin finally started it with a phone book."

"A phone book?" Ulquiorra smacked his neck right after he said this, looking down at the crimson smear on his palm in dismay.

"Tha mosquitos'll go away when tha fire starts," Ogihci told him, looking around the fire pit. It looked like the whole camp was there now.

Urahara stood and cleared his throat in a loud, obnoxious manner, getting everyone's attention within a few seconds. The campers fell silent, and Gin and Yoruichi began to really prepare the firepit

"Well, I hope all of you are enjoying it here! Now... Uh, we seem to be missing a few campers... Gin?"

The silver-haired man looked around the circle as did everyone else. "M'kay, where'd Nnoi and Tesra go?"

"Probably off screwin' or something," came a rough voice from across the firepit, followed by some laughter. Even Urahara cracked a smile, but Yoruichi slapped him for even acknowledging this.

"Uncalled for," she declared in a stern voice.

"I'm sure they'll show up any minute... Ah! There you two are," the head counselor exclaimed, messing with his hat as he watched two boys run up to the group and collapse onto a large log.

"Where'd ya two run off to?" Gin asked, grinning in an exceptionally creepy way.

"Got lost... in the woods," the blond one panted.

"Tha... tha idiot left us there..." his lanky companion got out, pointing a finger at a blond teen sprawled out on the grass next to him, who snickered and adjusted his newsboy cap.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say," said the voice from before. It was too dark to see who it was.

"Okay, now that everyone's here... Everyone _is_ here, right?" Urahara asked the other counselors, who looked around for a minute before nodding. "Great! Now, intro time! We'll go first."

"What is he talking about?" Ulquiorra asked his cabinmates, who were watching the three adults.

"You'll see," Tensa said.

"So, I'm Kisuke Urahara, in case anyone didn't know," he said in mock bravado.

Gin and Yoruichi introduced themselves, then the two males continued on with the earlier work done with the firepit while Yoruichi remained standing.

"Okay, now that you get the point... Just introduce yourselves, okay? Cabin Four! You're up!" Yoruichi said energetically, pointing at a group of girls sitting to her right. They stood and stepped forward, apparently knowing the routine.

" 'M Lilynette!" a small girl, looking no older than thirteen, said.

"My name's Nel," chirped a busty, green-haired teen, who was smiling warmly.

"..." The equally endowed blond teen beside her said nothing and looked away, pulling gently on her unusually high collar. Ulquiorra wondered how she could wear that in the middle of summer, but then remembered his own choice of clothing. He really shouldn't be talking.

"And, um, this is Harribel," Lilynette said, motioning at her. "She doesn't talk."

The trio returned to their seat while the gathered campers murmured among themselves. Their noticeably cat-like counselor nodded at the next group, which Ulquiorra assumed was Cabin Five. Everyone seemed to be seated counter-clockwise by the order of their cabins.

Cabin Five's residents, who seemed to just be a duo, stepped up. Both were dressed abnormally, at least by most of society's standards, but most of the campers were. One was dressed in Gothic Lolita-type clothing hinted with purple, while the other was dressed in much more simpler clothing, just gray jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt.

"...Sung-Sun," the one in the white shirt said in a thoughtful-sounding voice, pushing a lock of olive-green hair behind her ear.

"Cirucci." The Lolita girl smiled as the bright flames of the fire started to lick at the log, only going back to her seat when Yoruichi told her she had to.

Next was Cabin Six, the cabin that Urahara had considered putting Ulquiorra in. As the goofy blond had stated, the two boys occupying it were quite "flamboyant".

"Szayel," purred a pink haired guy, nodding his head in Cabin Nine's direction.

Tensa facepalmed and mumbled, "Not again..."

"And I'm Luppi!" the smaller boy exclaimed, waving his arms around a bit, receiving weird looks. He didn't seem to notice.

"Uh... I can see why Urahara didn't put me in _that_ cabin," Ulquiorra commented.

Ogihci laughed. "Yeah, they were here last year, too. Freaked us right tha hell out."

The next cabin approached before Ulquiorra could say anything else, this one containing three boys from clearly different social groups.

First up was a teen with wavy brown hair and a light goatee, who half-heartedly mumbled his name, Starrk, before yawning and returning to the rock they had been sitting on.

A young kid, close to Lilynette's age, was next. His snowy white hair glowed slightly in the dim firelight now being produced by the slowly expanding fire as he introduced himself. "Tōshirō. Don't call me anything else."

"Okay, Lil' Shiro," the much bigger, blue-haired punk beside him teased, much to his annoyance. He grinned at the fire just like Cirucci had. "Grimmjow."

Cabin Eight was another trio, composed of the three guys from before; two that looked like they had had one too many hits, and one smaller, calm-looking teen.

"Shinji. Pleased ta meet ya," the kid with the newsboy hat said in a slight New York accent while smiling widely.

"Nnoitra," the lanky teen drawled out in his somewhat creepy voice, giving a grin almost identical to Shinji's.

"Tesra..." said the blond kid, trying to stay out of Nnoitra's way.

As soon as that group sat back down (after Yoruichi scolded Nnoitra for making a lewd comment directed at one of the girls), Tensa and Ogihci stood, followed shortly by Ulquiorra. They introduced themselves without a problem, though Ulquiorra noticed the blue-haired punk staring at him.

"Alright! Now that you all hopefully know who your campmates are, let's have some fun, okay?" Yoruichi said cheerfully, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Gin copied her movements in an exaggerated way and was given a cold glare for his actions. He pretended like he hadn't done anything.

"...Anyways," she continued, still glaring at him. "Try not to kill each other."

"We'd never!" Ogihci gasped over the popping of the fire, which had officially started, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Oh, shut up," she said jokingly, rolling her eyes despite the snickering.

"Ah, come on, Yoruichi. Ya know ya-"

He was nailed in the face with the bag of marshmallows, Gin having happily supplied them to his fellow counselor. The albino fell off the rock with a shout, which resulted in several people bursting out laughing. Urahara chuckled to himself as he tended to the fire, which was growing by the minute.

Ulquiorra peered over the side of the rock at the fallen Ogihci while Tensa asked them, "Why? One of his favorite foods in the whole world, and you just gave him a whole bag. Of _sugar._ Why?". He was partially joking, but mostly being as serious as always.

"There's plenty more. Don't worry."

"That's not what I meant..."

Ogihci sat up and began tugging at the plastic bag containing the sweets, ripping it open a second later and shoving a handful of them into his mouth. By that time, everyone had either gone back to talking, helping Urahara with the fire or food, or, in Luppi's case, scolding Ogihci on his consumption of almost half of the marshmallow bag in under five minutes. When the teen offered the bag to him, he ran away in an attempt to avoid the deadly calories.

He laughed and then turned towards his cabinmates. Ulquiorra was looking up at the blanket of stars in the sky while Tensa was watching the fireflies blink in the distance, eating an apple. They had been put out due to a few of the campers being vegetarians.

Shoving another handful of giant marshmallows in his mouth, he spoke, or at least tried to speak. "Mmpy, nm mnna mo dwmn mwo mne mnownem?"

"What?" Ulquiorra looked back down at his ghost-like cabinmate.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," Tensa told him, turning his attention away from a particular firefly that didn't seem to know the danger of a campfire.

Ogihci swallowed, licked his lips, then repeated himself. "You wanna go down to the mausoleum?"

"The what?"

Tensa let a small smile show before allowing his face to return to its usual expression. "Hey Urahara!" The counselor looked up, allowing time for his marshmallow to burst into flames. "Can we take Ulquiorra down to the mausoleum?"

"Sure, sure," he replied in a carefree manner, blowing out his charred marshmallow before pulling it off of the stick.

"You're just going to let them wander off by themselves? At night?" Yoruichi asked him disapprovingly. When the man didn't answer, too busy with his gooey marshmallow, she sighed and called out at the other counselor. "Gin! Go with them, okay?"

"'Kay!" he replied cheerfully, giving up on his plan to scare poor Lilynette, who was trying to ignore him. Nel had been close to beating him to a pulp anyways.

"Come on!" Ogihci grinned psychotically as he grabbed Ulquiorra's right arm and began dragging him off away from the fire. Tensa mimicked the action, while Gin followed closely behind, humming the _Caramelldansen_ rather loudly.

"Hey! Ya goin' off for a threesome or somethin'?" shouted a screeching voice from behind them.

Ogihci flipped Nnoitra off with his free hand while Tensa yelled back, "No, but you and your cabin have fun!"

This was apparently an inside joke within the camp, because Gin started laughing, a few catcalls and wolf-whistles rang out, and Ulquiorra just caught Yoruichi commenting in a slightly exasperated way, "Well, boys will be boys, I guess."

As the two boys continued to drag the poor newbie away, he asked, "Where are we going? And why is _he_ with us?", while nodding backwards at Gin, who had completed his earlier redemption of the tune and was now watching the fireflies float by.

"To the mausoleum, like we said. And the counselor have to be with all of the campers at all times after sundown. Or at least when we aren't in our cabins" Tensa told him, shifting his grip on his arm.

"Not tha' ya guys don' sneak out anyways," the counselor said casually, giving them an extra-large grin.

"And you don't do anything about it?" the short teen asked, no longer resisting the hands guiding him.

"Nothin' would be any fun if we did," he replied with a shrug.

Ogihci slapped at his pale arm, lifting his hand to reveal a red smear. "Stupid mosquitoes..."

"We're here," Tensa announced, letting go of Ulquiorra's arm.

They were standing at a wrought iron fence, beyond which laid mostly dark, indistinguishable shapes. It took the pale teen a few seconds to realize that they were standing in front of the cemetery, evident because of the gravemarkers. Lots of short and tall headstones, some decorative and some plain, some in a state of ruin, others polished and intact.

"Is this place... Are people still using it?" he breathed, looking out over the burial ground.

"Nah. Just the dead," Ogihci answered with a grin, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. It must have been hard with skinnies on.

"...So why are we here? I mean, this place is cool and all, but-"

"Go in and knock on the mausoleum's doors. Dare ya," the albino told him.

"_What?_"

"Shouldn't be that hard ta find. Really shiny and white."

"I am not going to knock on a mausoleum!" Ulquiorra looked at Gin for support, since Tensa seemed to be with the psycho, but found that the man was just staring up at the moon happily.

"I don' see tha problem. Go fer it."

"We did it when we got here," Tensa supplied.

"Why?"

"Tradition," Gin said. "Most of tha campers here have done it."

"You let them?" Ulquiorra was beginning to doubt his own safety at the camp.

"No harm done. No one gets hurt an' tha cemetery isn't affected."

"You've got to be kidding me..."

"Do it," Ogihci commanded. "We dare ya."

He looked around at the three other males standing around him and sighed, knowing that, although he felt nerdy for thinking it, resistance was futile. "Fine. What do I...?"

"Hop the fence. It's on camp grounds, so don't worry about trespassing," Tensa said, searching his pockets for something. Finally, he pulled a pen-sized object out of his shirt pocket and pressed a button on the end, causing the light on the end to flicker on. He handed the penlight to Ulquiorra. "Here. The mausoleum is in the center of the cemetery. It's the only one there, so you shouldn't get _that_ lost."

He looked at the light a little uncertainly. A weak little penlight was going to lead him through an old, unfamiliar cemetery? Sure, he had pretty good eyesight, even at night, but a little light wasn't going to help much.

"You have to tell us what the mausoleum's plaque says when you come back," the nearly invisible, dark-clad teen told him.

"Oh! An' pick one of tha flowers growin' in front ta prove it!" Gin added.

"Uh..."

"Go! Shoo!" Ogihci shoved the much smaller teen towards the gate playfully.

He looked back for a second before taking a deep breath and jumping the fence with ease. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before. Just not at that particular graveyard.

Ulquiorra weaved his way through the headstones, trying to keep his path straight while searching for a white structure. He stumbled over a stone hidden in the grass and shined his light on it. _'1859...'_ The pale teen frowned and continued on his way, glancing at the dates on the occasional headstone.

_'1860... 1877... 1880... back down to 1876...'_

Judging by the fact that there were almost-new headstones ahead, he reasoned that he was in the old section of the cemetery. Getting to the newer ones, he checked their dates. _'1950... 1967... 1980...' _It looked like it was grouped into family plots.

Deciding to continue on and focus on his goal, he tried to stop looking down. He passed a few interesting headstones and monuments, including a creepy one that was carved like a chair. For the first time, the boy noticed that there really didn't seem to be many insects around. Now that he really thought about it, he hadn't been bit by any mosquitoes since he entered the cemetery. Odd, since he had had to bat away at least ten before the fire had started earlier. The only bugs that he had seen signs of were the fireflies, which seemed to be exceptionally numerous there.

The beam of light from the small flashlight landed on a tall monument, causing Ulquiorra to stop in his tracks.

_'2009...'_ The burial was recent.

Before he could really read the inscription, he heard a snapping sound from behind him. Whirling around, he found nothing. It could have been a small animal, but...

He frowned once again and continued on, passing the monument. He would have to come back in the future. Soon, a glimmer of white came into view.

The mausoleum wasn't that big, being no more than ten by ten feet, probably less. It was made of pure white, shining marble, carved elegantly with roses and angles along the top. A phrase was inscribed on a plaque above the door- _"In Amor et In mors"_, which Ulquiorra roughly translated in his head. His Latin classes had finally paid off. Who would've thought.

Looking at the structure's foot, he saw that a large number of small, blue and white flowers growing there. Remembering what Gin had said, he reached down and plucked a single stem. Then, remembering why he had come out there in the first place, he silently walked up to the sealed marble doors and rapped his knuckles on them four times. Not that anyone would ever know, but he just felt it necessary.

Satisfied, he began to retrace his steps back to his group, following the tombstones that he had seen along the way.

Then the snapping sound repeated itself.

Turning quickly once more, he shined the penlight around, trying to find the culprit. A shadow seemed to dart off to the left, but when he checked, he found that area to be devoid of life. There was nowhere to hide either, as all of the tombstones were small, ground-level ones.

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes, suspecting that one of his cabinmates was trying to scare him. Since there weren't any hiding places to check, he continued, reaching the cemetery's old section after a few minutes of walking.

He didn't scare easily, so when the sound of of twigs breaking reached his ears for the third time, he simply turned the light in that direction, assuming that if there was anything there, it would just run off like last time. When he looked up, he froze in mid-step.

In the penlight's beam, a figure appeared to be standing off to the side. It was only there for a moment, but it was definitely there; a shadowy figure, maybe standing a little more than five feet tall, and it looked _solid._ Before he could notice anything more about the figure, it vanished. Just... vanished. Almost as if it had just been a shadow dispelled by the weak beam of light and had sunk back into the ground.

Ulquiorra stared at the spot that it had been, startled. It had looked so real... and left such an eerie feeling in his gut. He realized what he had just seen and turned, shaking his head to try and get over it, then resumed his retreat at a slightly faster rate. The encounter had left him more than a little spooked.

Meanwhile, Ogihci, Tensa, and Gin were waiting on the other side of the fence, growing uneasy. The small flashlight's beam was no longer visible, so they had no clue where the newbie was.

"Ya think he got lost?"

"It's a pretty straightforward route, so I doubt it. You don't think he saw...?"

"Oh, come on. I thought we said we weren't going ta talk 'bout that anymore?"

"Hey, looky there. He's back," Gin sang, interrupting the two camper's conversation.

True to the man's word, Ulquiorra had reemerged from the cemetery's depths, looking relieved to be getting out. A wilted flower was clutched in his hand, a memento from his dare.

His demeanor was what freaked them out, though. From what they had seen, he was a pretty unemotional guy, not really showing if something was bothering him. He appeared to breaking this regular pattern now, as he seemed paler than normal, if that was possible, and his brow was furrowed as if he was debating something in his head.

"Whoa. You okay?" Ogihci asked, looking past the teen as he jumped the fence to see if something else was there. There was nothing other than a few fireflies with their odd, greenish-yellow lights, so unless the guy had entomophobia, there wasn't anything that could have freaked him out that much.

"Yes... _In Amor et In mors_," he said, looking at him with seemingly bored emerald eyes.

"What?"

"_In Amor et In mors_. It's what's above the mausoleum's doors... Roughly translates to _"In Love and In Death"_."

"Nice." he praised, swinging his arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner. "Welcome to tha team."

"Did you see anything... _weird_ in there?" Tensa asked, glancing sideways at Ogihci to make sure he would stay quiet.

"..." He didn't say anything, hoping that the black-clad teenager would get the hint. That figure... For some reason, talking about it just seemed... wrong.

"Eh, don' make 'em talk 'bout it if he dosen' wanna," Gin told them, turning toward the gothic teen. "A lot o' people see weird stuff 'ere, 'specially near this place."

Everyone was silent for a moment after his dramatic statement before the creepy counselor himself broke the tension. "Alrigh', back ta tha fire you three."

...

The rest of the night was rather uneventful, at least if you go from a paranormal standpoint. Urahara kept the fire well fed while devouring marshmallows and lollipops, and the others entertained themselves with various campfire activities. Some of the highlights: Ogihci's marshmallow-induced sugar high, which ended in him jumping into the lake and having to be revived by Yoruichi (who slapped him when he started laughing after she had given him mouth-to-mouth), Sung-Sun's monologue about the flame's symbolism to life, ultimately causing Yoruichi and Luppi to tear up, and Nel nearly killing Tensa by glomping him after he mentioned his mom.

Ulquiorra mostly stayed off to the side, watching his fellow camper's antics and pondering over what he had seen in the cemetery. He didn't know why it was bothering him so much; he _had_ seen things like that before, but they never gave him that kind of creeped out feeling.

As he was lost in thought, one of the campers approached him and sat beside him on the boulder. He looked up to find Harribel sitting there, looking at him with a passive expression, holding a cup and a notepad, which she had placed in her lap. The blond offered the cup to him, and he accepted with a thank-you after seeing that it was Coke.

"So... you're in Cabin Four? Harribel, right?" he asked, trying to be polite and start up a conversation despite her cabinmate's claim that she never spoke.

She nodded, then produced a small pen from the pocket of her extremely baggy, tan cargo pants and began to scratch something onto her notepad. Then she held it up.

_'Yes. Did you go to the cemetery?'_

"All the way to the mausoleum. Does everyone really do that?"

_'Pretty sure. Almost everyone here has'_

She paused, then wrote something else before he could reply.

_'You look freaked out. What did you see in there?'_

Ulquiorra stayed silent. He still didn't want to tell anyone about the figure. She observed the look on his face for a moment before writing something else, then showing him her spiky writing.

_'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Just know- most people see things while they're here.'_

"Like what?" he asked, feeling a sense of déjà vu as he did so. He only realized later that it was from his earlier conversation with Tensa.

Harribel didn't write anything for a minute, just staring at the fire before looking up at the moon. She then stood, writing as she did so.

_'They're going to put out the fire soon. I'm going back to my cabin.'_

"Uh, okay."

Soon after this, Urahara managed to get everyone's attention by banging two metal pots together. "Alright everyone. Unfortunately, we can't keep this going all night. So everyone help clean up! No trash left behind!"

Everything was cleaned up in a few minutes, recyclables put into one bag and food scraps in another, with only one incident involving some melted marshmallows and Luppi's head. After that had been dealt with, Luppi only having hit someone once in his frenzy to get the gooey mess out of his hair, the campers were sent off to their cabins, accompanied by Gin, while Yoruichi and Urahara dueled with the fire.

Tensa made Ogihci get into his nightclothes and brush his teeth in the restroom despite how hyper he was. Both of his fellow cabinmates did the same, trying to keep their distance from Luppi, who had his head shoved under the faucet, trying desperately to get the sweets off his head with Szayel's help.

Returning to their cabin, sugar-loaded albino in tow, they found that Urahara had, in fact, found time to find another trunk and bunk bed for the cabin (the only beds at the camp were bunk beds to save space), which was surprising because his time was usually divided between sleeping, his prized lollipops, and flirting with Yoruichi, apparently.

"All right!" Tensa cheered, quickly climbing the new bunk bed like a pro and claiming the top bunk as he had said. He peered over the side at Ulquiorra, who was placing the contents of his duffle into the new trunk. "You might want to share this one... Ogihci's not going to stay still tonight."

"Yeah, I can see that," the shorter boy replied, edging away as a white blur ran past him, going in circles around the small space.

"You aren't mad about the cemetery, are you?" the brunet asked, laying his head down on his arms as he looked down.

"No... I kind of want to go back and read the headstones," he replied, trying to keep the demon-like boy from trampling his things.

"Well, you've got all summer. You want this bunk?"

"No, you can keep the top." Ogihci snorted childishly at this.

"Ogihci... Go run around outside or something. I'm sure Gin would _love_ to chase you," Tensa suggested with a roll of his eyes.

"No! The pedo's not allowed to chase kids!"

"...Uh, well, at least get into bed," Ulquiorra told him, closing his trunk carefully while wondering about what he had said about Gin being a pedo.

"'Kay!"

It took them a little while, but they eventually managed to get Ogihci to stay still long enough to fall asleep and got into their bunks themselves. While Tensa fell asleep soon after saying goodnight, Ulquiorra stayed up for a long while after that, listening to the nightlife... and the all too familiar sound of breaking twigs.

...

_Next Chapter..._

_Ulquiorra reluctantly gets settled into the camp life, but something strange is going on. Not with the campers, but with the camp itself. Why is the shadow following people? Why is Gin so creepy? And what's the deal with Urahara's lollipops?_

* * *

**Disclaimer**- This is the one and only time I'm going to say this... I don't own Bleach or any other copyrighted materials. They all belong to their respective owners, who I'm sure you can find by Googling whatever it is.

**A/N-** Thank you to everyone who actually read all the way through this monstrosity... I swear, the other chapters won't be nearly as long. I did enjoy writing this, though. Something to take note of- The next chapter and the majority of the ones following it will be in first person. Third person will be used sparingly. Also, all of the chapters following this will be covering a week each (unless noted), so mini-time skips are to be expected. Nothing important will happen in-between.

Oh! Before I forget, this was partially inspired by that hilarious fic _The Espada Friendship Reconstuction Program_ by UNseated4TH (If you haven't read it, go. Now. It's worth it.) and Sinsanity's multiple random ideas and comments. Yes, the random comments that had almost nothing to do with anything helped. XD Joking, joking...

Just so you guys know, I've never personally been to a summer camp. Well, once, but I got sick and left on the first day. :( So I'm just basing this off of what I know about them and putting my own spin on it. So sorry if some of the stuff's off or wrong. Some of the characters are OOC as well, I know, but it was mostly because I was trying to write them as teenagers. Kind of hard with some of them.

Well anyway, I hope that you guys liked this. I'll be trying to update this regularly every Friday or Saturday for the entire summer. More info, including an actual summary, is up on my profile.  
And guess what? I pretty much have the whole story line planned out for once! Just the framework, though.  
Any questions? Suggestions? I don't mind a little constructive criticism, as it will help me a lot, but no flames, okay?

So go forth and review!


	2. The Camp That Never Was

...

_O_b_l_i_v_i_o_n

-The Camp That Never Was-

...

_"All lies lead to the truth." -The X-Files_

...

Waking up the next morning was hard. Not just because we _had_ to get up, but also because I hadn't got much sleep last night. The snapping sounds continued until around one, and before that, all I had managed to do was drift off a little before I would jolt awake a few minutes later, expecting something to be standing over me. There never was, of course, but I just couldn't shake the feeling.

Tensa was the one who shook me awake. Apparently, the whole cabin had to come at the same time for breakfast and he was hungry. Plus, he needed help with dragging Ogihci out of bed. The guy had some sort of sugar hangover and wouldn't budge.

After that demon managed to punch both of us, we both stopped trying to wake him, got dressed and everything, then "carefully" got him off his bunk, blanket-taco style. I don't know if he just didn't realize that he was moving or just didn't care, but we ended up lugging him down to the lake and throwing him, minus the blanket, into the water.

He came back up coughing and sputtering, not realizing what was going on for about half a minute. By that time, both of us were already halfway back to our cabin, where we were now taking refuge as Ogihci pounded on the door, shouting for us to open us so he could "kill our asses".

Thing was, since he had been spazing so much last night, Tensa hadn't been able to get him to put shorts on. So he was now standing outside in just a tank top and some boxers.

The commotion caused by this was enough to wake the others, the majority of who looked on from their cabin's doorways and stairs. A loud, hyena-like laugh rang out from the cabin directly across from us, along with a few wolf-whistles and a couple of embarrassed mumbles from others.

Ogihci turned around and just shouted "Like whatcha see?" to the occupants of cabins Eight and Six, who were responsible for most of the "appreciation". They just laughed. Well, Cabin Six was just staring in awe, but still.

A bundle of clothes was suddenly thrust at him. "Go take a shower," Tensa told him through the door, speaking louder than usual to be heard. "You have that fishy smell now."

After a few more thrown insults directed at the two of us, Ogihci finally left our poor door alone and stomped off to the showers.

As soon as he was out of sight, we crept out of our cabin cautiously while the rest of the campers retreated, probably to get dressed and everything.

Before either Tensa or I could say anything, a creepy laugh came from behind us.

"Whitey-chan givin' ya any problems?"

It turns out that Gin had been watching the whole scene play out from between the cabins.

Tensa narrowed his eyes. "Gin..."

"I know, I know. "Go away", righ'?" he sniffed before skipping away happily.

"...He really creeps me out..." the teen next to me mumbled as soon as our counselor was out of earshot, scratching at a bug bite on his arm.

I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. "So, uh, about breakfast..."

"Oh... I guess we can go without him."

...

"...What...?" I managed, poking at the food in my small bowl in confusion. Tensa said that the normal meals were mostly vegetarian, but... I didn't think that he meant like _this_.

"Tofu..." he said softly, doing the same. "Well, I guess we have to eat it..." He reluctantly started to eat... what was tofu, apparently.

"Oh, is that what this is?" the girl I remembered as Cirucci said, taking a seat beside us on our boulder, slowly raising the tofu to her mouth. "I would have never guessed."

As I raised my eyebrow at her antics, Tensa sighed and told her, "Cirucci... We don't want it, but I think Szayel might."

"Did I hear my name?" the pink haired teen cried excitedly, appearing right next to her in a second. She jumped, then ran back over to where Sung-Sun and the other girls were as fast as her death-boots would carry her.

"What did I do?" He ran off as if to apologize, but he just ended up somehow harassing her even more, resulting in him getting scolded by Yoruichi.

"So... what do you want to do?"

"Huh?"

"What do you want to do today?"

"Didn't you tell someone that we'd go crayfish hunting?"

"Oh yeah..." He looked around for a second before spotting her. "Hey Nel! Crayfish hunting still on?"

"Yep! After this, 'kay?" she chirped, happily peeling an orange.

"Wait, where'd you get an orange?" Tensa asked, dropping the piece of tofu that he had been about to consume. I had been wondering the same thing.

"Mnorincni," she replied while chewing the orange.

"Uh, okay..."

I turned back to my food as he continued talking to Nel, just catching a flash of white creeping towards us as I did so.

"ATTACK!" Ogihci yelled as he tackled Tensa, who nearly chocked on his tofu.

While most of our fellow campers either watched while sweat-dropping or just ignored the two campers wrestling on the ground, Szayel seemed delighted at the sight.

"Room for one more?" he asked, attempting to join in what I'm sure he thought was a bout of "brotherly love" or something. Both Tensa and Ogihci ran off in opposite directions in an attempt to _not _get touched.

I guess he didn't think that it was worth the chase, because Szayel just turned to me a second later and asked, "Well, do _you_ want some company?"

I immediately fled and hid among the others. No one complained.

...

"Ow ow _ow_ OW!"

The crayfish hunt was going swimmingly, no pun intended. The only problem- every crayfish that Ogihci touched seemed to want to pinch him. Hard. And he was being a baby about it.

"Hold still!"

"But it hurts!"

"It wouldn't if you would just _hold still!_"

"Ogihci, hold still and be quiet," I sighed from my crouching position next to the small stream feeding into the lake. The trip seemed more for fun than anything else, though a small portion of the crustaceans would be used for fish bait in the future.

After Ogihci whined again, Harribel, who had tagged along with us (she seemed to be an expert on catching crayfish), sighed softly and stood. Then she walked over, gave him a death glare, and proceeded to backhand him.

He remained quiet after that.

"Oh Harribel... You didn't need to hit him _that_ hard, did you?" Nel asked worriedly, watching as Tensa not-so-gently pried the small animal off of his pinky.

She just gave her cabinmate a flat look, to which she sighed.

"...By the way, Harribel," I started as I rinsed some mud off of my wrist in the stream. "If you don't mind me asking, are you mute or...?"

Harribel just nodded her head in a way that could mean either yes or no. I furrowed my brow slightly. "Then why-"

"AH!"

We all turned to find Nel backed up against a tree in terror, staring at a small, black snake that was slithering away from the water right where she had just been. Ogihci snickered and picked it up without hesitation, handling the creature in a expertly gentle, yet somewhat carefree, way.

"It's just a ratsnake. Nothing dangerous," he declared, holding it up for her to see.

"G-Get it away from me!"

"Ogihci, let the snake go."

"Fine." He shrugged and placed it back on the ground, where it immediately went for foliage near Nel.

"AHHHH!"

I sighed. This was going to be a long summer...

...

...

"How'd you get up there?"

It was a few days after the crayfish expedition (which had ended in complete and utter failure after Nel accidentally knocked the bucket containing all of our captured crayfish into the water, releasing them all), and most of us were now amusing ourselves by trying to climb the trees around the camp. The majority of the group was failing miserably, but both Shinji and I had somehow gotten up.

Shinji was only up the tree because Nnoitra had threatened to rip out his tongue ring if he didn't. No one even knew he _had_ the tongue ring.

My question- how did _Nnoitra _know? What Tensa had implied about his cabin made sense to me all of a sudden.

Anyways, I was only up here because Szayel had chased me and my cabin around until we found shelter. So here I was, sitting about fifteen feet up in a maple tree, not entirely sure as to how I got there.

"How should I know?" I called back down to the blue haired figure below as Shinji dropped down from the tree next to me and was chased by his cabinmate.

"You're up there, aintcha?"

"Yes..."

"Then how'd you get there?"

"I don't know!"

He was about to yell something else at me when that short kid from his cabin called down from his perch in the pine tree across the way. "'Sup?"

"What the..."

"Go Lil' Shiro!" Ogihci cheered from his dangling position on a low hanging tree branch below me. Tensa was standing, perfectly balanced, a few feet away from him on the same limb.

"Hey, how're ya doing that, Zanny?"

He just shrugged, letting the nickname go while gazing off at the distant setting sun.

"Hey! Dinner call!" Yoruichi yelled from the Firepit, where several of the other cabin groups were already gathered.

"Okay. Ulquiorra! Get down from there!" Tensa called up.

"Uh... I can't."

"Huh? Why?"

"My shoe's stuck..." I told him as I tried to un-wedge it from the crook of the tree.

"How the hell'd ya get it stuck?" Grimmjow asked, craning his neck to look at me.

"I don't know!"

Tensa sighed. "Ogihci... go help him."

Ogihci did manage to get me down, but almost killed me in the process. You see, I hadn't been expecting a psychotic albino to pop up next to me like a ninja, so I nearly fell out of the tree when he did. Well, at least my shoe came out.

We also hadn't been expecting Szayel to be the only person waiting on the ground, so we ended up getting chased all the way to and arriving breathless at the Firepit.

"Szayel," Yoruichi said as he arrived. "what have I said about terrorizing the others?"

"Uh... Go for it?"

"No harrassin' the others, Pinky-chan," Gin sang from across the cold pit.

"But I wasn't-"

"Hey! Gerroff, Spoon!" Grimmjow roared with much difficulty due to the giant seated on his back.

"Nnoitra!"

"And... that's what they're usually like," Tensa commented, throwing me an apple.

"Why?" I asked as Gin happily pulled Nnoitra off of his campmate, who immediately went for his throat.

"Tha parentals send some kids here 'cause they've got problems," Ogihci replied casually.

"But some of us come because it's fun," Tensa interjected quickly.

"...What kinds of problems?"

"Uh... I think Shinji and Nnoi's parents got 'em here for drug probs... Grimmy's a psycho..."

"Like you," interrupted Tensa before getting punched.

"Shutup. Eh, I think one of tha Cabin Six kids was on something... Plus they're bros, so... yeah. An' I'm pretty sure Harribel came 'cause she won't talk."

"...Okay..." I really didn't want to know why mom sent me here now. If this was a camp for kids with problems, then what was the point of sending a totally sane person here?

"Hey!" Cirucci shouted at us. "There's a widow over here!"

"Damn straight there is..." Ogihci mumbled. We ignored him.

"So? It's just a spider. Leave it alone," Tensa called back. He and Ogihci obviously didn't like her.

"But it's on my shoe!"

"And _how_ did it get on your shoe?"

"I kinda kicked its web..."

"Then it has a right to be on you. Just kick it off!"

She was about to make a come back, but the venomous spider chose then to try and climb her leg.

"AH! It's gonna sting me!"

"Spiders bite, not sting, my dear," Szayel informed her with a smile as he swatted it off of her thigh.

"Get away from me, Nerd Boy!"

For the rest of our dinner, which consisted of the ever-present apple and something that seemed to be a mixture of miscellaneous vegetables and some chicken, was consumed in silence, with the others chattering quietly about seemingly random things.

Ogihci finished first and, after looking around for a second, decided to go chase after a firefly that was floating about at the Firepit's edge. Somebody had lit some citronella candles to keep the mosquitoes away, so no insect really wanted to be around us at the moment.

"Want to join him?" Tensa asked, looking on as the beetle decided to fly out of Ogihci's reach and he started cursing it.

"Not particularly."

"Well, then we could-"

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by Nel, who bounced up and glomped him in a sudden fit of apologization.

"Omigosh, I'm so sorry! I let all of the crawdads go!"

She went on like this for a while, with me nearly panicking while trying to figure out what to do. Nel looked like she had an iron grip on him, but, then again, Tensa wasn't looking so hot.

Actually, it looked like he had passed out.

"Nel! No! You're going to kill Tensa!" Lilynette screamed, pulling at her friends arm, which was wrapped around his back.

The green-haired beauty finally came to her senses and realized what she had been doing a second later. Tensa fell to the ground gasping for air as she backed away in horror.

"Damn Nel," Ogihci whistled, having given up on catching the firefly. "That's like, what, tha sixth time you've done that ta him?"

"I'm sorry!" she cried, going in to hug him instead.

"No! Don't death-hug me! I don't wanna end up like King!"

Through all of this, our counselors were just relaxing off to the side, with Gin playing with a flower, Yoruichi gazing up at the stars, and Urahara devouring a lollipop.

Yeah, big help guys.

I gently helped Tensa stumble to his feet, where he slowly managed to regain his composure.

"Damn. Nel... Nel's strong," he panted. "Uh, anyways, we could see if anyone else wants to go down to the lake."

I shrugged. "Why not?"

He nodded and slipped away towards the rest of the campers. I followed, because honestly, I didn't feel like getting Nel-glomped after seeing what happened to Tensa. Even if she was... figured like she is.

It seemed like my fellow black-clad cabinmate had asked half the camp by the time that I had caught up to him, and it looked like most of them had agreed. Harribel and Lilynette were asking Yoruichi if we could, while those who wanted to go were gathered off to the side. All together, that group consisted of Grimmjow, the short kid that everyone kept calling "Shiro", that quiet girl who shared her cabin with Cirucci, the entirety of Cabin Four, and my cabin. Ogihci was still running from Nel, so he was missing.

"Hey guys!" Lilynette squealed, scrambling back to the group. "She said we can go!"

"All alone..." Grimmjow muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. A psycho-grin spread across his face, creeping us all out.

"Uh, no. She's making Urahara come with us," the small girl told him, repositioning the bandanna covering much of her head and her left eye. Behind her, Harribel slowly returned to join us.

"Che... At least it ain't Mr. Pedo-Smile... Hey Spoon! Ya comin' or what?" he yelled at Nnoitra, who just glared up from his position on the grass.

"Bugger off!"

While they argued, we decided to try and sneak off. I was curious, so I asked Ogihci, who had joined us shortly after Harribel had. "Spoon?"

"He wore a jacket last year when it was raining. Tha hood made him look like a spoon," he shrugged.

"How?"

"I dunno, but it did."

When we arrived at the lakeside, most of the girls went straight to the water, with Nel and Lilynette dashing off towards a cluster of waterweeds and Sung-Sun taking off her sandles to wade in about calf-deep. Harribel stayed on the shore, watching over them protectively. The Shiro kid (_Tō_shirō, maybe?) walked off onto the nearby dock a bit and sat on the edge, dangling his feet over the water. Ogihci ran off, playing a messed-up game of tag with Grimmjow while Tensa and I just stood there, watching them all.

Finally, after Grimmjow nearly ran us over again, I just gave up and walked down to join Harribel. She glanced up at me before turning back at the two poking around in the waterweeds. Then she pulled her notepad and pin out of nowhere. Literally. Seriously, where was she keeping that? It looked a little too big to fit in her pocket...

_'Enjoying camp?'_

"I guess..." I replied, watching a raft spider skitter across the ground.

_'Better than rotting at home all day.'_

"I still wish my mom would've told me before dumping me here..."

_'...I'm not going to touch that. Seen any more weird things?'_

"Uh..."

"I'd kinda like to hear about last night," Tensa piped up from behind me. Stupid eavesdropper...

"Do you just like scaring people?" I demanded, glaring at him.

He just looked at me expectantly.

"Fine. Nothing since the cemetery, okay?" I confessed. _'They never said anything about noises...'_

Those sounds were still bothering me, though I've been managing to ignore them and just fall asleep most of the time. But they seemed to be getting closer and closer...

"Okay, if you say so. I still want to hear about that."

Right after he said this, Ogihci ran up to him and attempted to push him into the lake.

"Catch me if you can, Zanny!" he laughed before running off to avoid Grimmjow, who appeared to have already taken a dip.

Harribel tapped my shoulder as I observed them.

_'Did you see the lights?'_

"What are you talking about?"

_'Never mind. It's not important.'_

"Hey Harribel!"

We both turned to find Nel and Lilynette playing with some frogs. I don't know where they got them, but they did.

She just nodded, then narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder. I did the same and got a face full of green.

"Ah, young love. It's so sweet to see you to getting along so well!" Urahara sang, waving that fan of his around.

Harribel smacked him.

"Ow... You don't have to be so mean, Hallie-chan..." he mumbled, barely managing to not choke on his lollipop.

He got hit again.

...

I never would have guessed that Yoruichi was strong enough to pick Urahara up. Neither did anyone else, apparently. But she had gone ballistic when she found everyone in the water and our "supervisor" sleeping on the dock.

We weren't even swimming by choice. Ogihci had somehow gotten the idea in his head to push Grimmjow while they were stupidly running on the dock, effectively knocking both him and Tōshirō in. Tensa, Harribel, and I had ran out on the wooden platform to deal with him, but in the struggle to get him back on shore, he somehow knocked all three of us in, then jumped in himself.

He was lucky that none of us had any water-vulnerable objects on us.

While everyone was scrambling to get out, that idiotic piece of trash, Grimmjow, decided that a midnight swim sounded nice. So he pulled his shirt off. Ogihci followed his lead and pulled those of us who were getting out back in. And then tried to strip us.

It took a while, but the girl's counselor eventually came to investigate all of the yelling. Let's just say that she wasn't happy with half of the guys being shirtless, Urahara sleeping with a lollipop still in his mouth, and Lilynette and Nel having a frog race. Well, she was actually fine with the frog race, but because of what everyone else was doing, she still raged.

After getting everyone out of the lake, Urahara had been tossed over her shoulders like a ragdoll and whisked away to who-knows-where.

And that's how the whole Lake Gang ended up taking late-night showers and walking back to our cabins in only our underwear and wrapped in some towels. We hadn't been allowed in our cabins while we smelled "fishy".

"The looks on your faces!" Ogihci cackled while Tensa tried to whale on him.

We were the first ones out of the showers, so we were walking back on our own.

"Not funny! You're going to pay for doing that! Especially to Harribel!"

I shuttered. "I... I think I swallowed a fish..."

"Good for protein!"

"That's just _wrong!_"

Tensa and Ogihci continued to shout at each other while I dragged my feet and spaced out a bit, cursing the fact that the restroom area was set so far away. This was the only drawback of the camp- it took forever to walk from the cabins to that building, especially at night.

Suddenly, a clear snapping sound caught my attention. I was about to brush it off when it repeated itself.

Then I recognized it. The same sound that had been repeating itself so much at night.

I peered over my shoulder, trying to find what I knew was causing it, but to no avail. The only shadows that were present were the normal ones cast by the trees and rocks and such. I just turned my attention back to my still-arguing group.

"And there was that time ya popped Karin's soccer ball!"

"Totally on accident! Plus, I apologized! You pranked my dad and made him think that his flag collection was destroyed! Then laughed when he chased you with the mop!"

"That was awesome!"

"You two are hopeless..." I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

"Ah, come on. Tha' swim was fun, wasn't it, Ulqui?" Ogihci cooed, trying to hug me. Tensa shoved him off.

"It's "Ulquiorra", not "Ulqui", and- you guys heard that, right?"

As I was talking, that sound had repeated itself. I just had to ask so that I would know that I _wasn't_ loosing it.

"Uh... no?" Both of them gave me odd looks, so I dropped it. For the moment, at least.

They resumed discussing each other's faults, and I just shrugged and kept walking.

I managed to ignore the noises for a while, but my curiosity eventually got the best of me. So I looked.

The figure was back. Standing next to a tree about a dozen feet away. This time, it looked pretty much the same, only... somewhat transparent.

I kinda stopped in surprise, making my cabinmates stop as well.

"What?" the albino asked, frowning at me. Tensa just took a look at my face, followed my gaze, and froze.

"You see it too, right?" I asked him, not taking my eyes off the shadow figure. Ogihci looked at us once more, then finally saw it as well.

"Uh..." Tensa seemed at loss for words.

Ogihci laughed nervously. "It's probably just Szayel being a stalker or somethin'. Hey Pinky!"

"I wouldn't-" Tensa started a little too late as he approached the shadow.

It disappeared.

...

_Next..._

_A new camper comes for an experimental visit, and two cabins get the chance to explore the nearby town. A helpful lakeside resident gives the campers some startling information about the camp's past, only deepening the mystery..._

* * *

**A/N-** Sorry for ending it there, but I just couldn't think of a weirder way to end the chapter. Was it okay? And I have no idea why, but tofu just seemed like a pretty random breakfast option and one that I could totally see Urahara choosing. Really, don't ask.  
Hopefully, I didn't screw up with the whole first person thing. I'm worried that it made everyone OOC...  
_(Only now as I post this did I notice... I forgot about Starrk! DX He'll be in the next chapter...)_

So now Tensa and Ogihci have seen the shadow! Things are getting fun. Some answers will be given in the next chapter if it goes the way I think it will. The plot will start moving faster from here on in, plus some more disturbing stuff will come up, so beware! And that includes some major pedo-type behavior from our lovable fox-like counselor. :)

And, uh, if there are any major mistakes in here, sorry about that. I'm typing this at... *looks at clock* ...3:52 AM so that it would be ready to post today. Yes, three AM. DX I hope you guys are happy...  
Ah, just kidding. But if you're as OCD with mistakes as I am, you can tell me if you see any and I'll try to fix whatever it is. :)

Uh... What was I going to type again? Oh yeah! Review! Those little messages help me out a lot. Now, I'm just... just going to... to, uh... Zzzz... *falls asleep*


	3. Reflections on the Landscape

...

_O_b_l_i_v_i_o_n

-Reflections on the Landscape-

...

_"I can call spirits from the vasty deep.  
Why, so can I, or so can any man;  
But will they come when you do call for them?"  
-William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I_

...

_June Fourth..._

Rain.

It came, and it came _hard_. I mean, one minute, we were all just messing around outside, and the next, we're all running for the sanctuary of our cabins, just trying to stay dry. We failed miserably.

That was yesterday. The rain hadn't let up since then, either; no, we were now officially stuck in our cabins because of the freaking _typhoon_ that had apparently decided to take a stroll through our nation this week.

Well, at least Urahara had been true to his word- we had plenty to do. Talk, play board games, stare out the window... pretty much anything non-destructive that we could think of. Even visit other cabins. We just couldn't track mud in. And wearing a poncho was required.

We hadn't been out yet, and by the sound of things, we wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. I was actually starting to worry about a tornado starting up or something. If it kept going like this, one wasn't out of the question.

"Hey Tensa," I said, deciding to ask what was on my mind.

"Mmph," he grunted, looking up from his book; a thick volume about monsters or something like that.

I took that as a 'What?'. "What happens if a tornado comes through?"

"Well... It hasn't happened while we've been here, but I guess if we _were_ under a Warning, then the counselors would get us all in Cabin One. There's a cellar-type thing under it..." he replied, glancing out the window at the near-black sky and grayed-out surroundings.

There was a rustling over in the corner, where Ogihci was pawing through his trunk. He gave up on trying to find whatever it was that he had been looking for and just flopped down on Tensa's old bunk, sighing loudly.

"Bored?" the brunette asked, not looking up from his reading material. From my position leaned up against my bunk, I could see that he was reading about something called _"Mokèlé-mbèmbé"_. *** **Weird name.

"...I really wanted ta mess with Grimmy today..." he pouted.

"If you want to go out in this, then go ahead," Tensa deadpanned, waving his hand weakly at the door while trying to read.

He dragged his odd, inverted eyes to the wild display that our window was offering, then rolled over to bury his head in the bunk's comforter.

We all sat there for a few minutes, the silence only being broken by the sounds of pages turning, our breathing, and the raging storm outside. I looked up from my logic puzzle book after one of the hints brought a memory back to the head of my thoughts for the umptenth time that day. I gave in this time.

"So... What do you guys think that figure was?" I asked. They definitely knew something about it. What, I wasn't sure, but I was going to find out whether they liked it or not.

The effect of that simple question was instantaneous. Ogihci's watery voice stopped grumbling to its owner. Tensa stopped reading and just stared at the page (which was displaying a picture of some kind of... feline thing with a screwed-up tail). I just sat there, convinced that things were turning in the wrong direction.

Our spell of awkward silence was soon broken.

"...Ulquiorra," Tensa started, putting me under a steady, unnerving gaze. "if you _are_ going to stay here, you should know- there are three things that we _never_ do here. One," He held his finger up. "kill each other."

Ogihci snickered, earning an icy glare.

Tensa turned back to me, looking irritated. A second finger was raised. "Two- touch Urahara's lollipops." He raised his ring finger. "And three- talk about _that_. Almost everything else is fine, just don't talk about _that_, okay?"

"...Okay?" My shadowy friend nodded, apparently pleased with this response.

I set aside my puzzle book in favor of looking out the window and sinking into my personal sea of thoughts. They really were being evasive... It just made me all the more curious about just _what _they didn't want to discuss.

I couldn't think for long, however. A sound different from what the storm had been producing caught my attention. It almost sounded like...

There was a banging at the door right before it was flung open to reveal Cabin Four -and Starrk- tumbling in with a light spray of water following them.

"What the...?" Tensa yelped, trying to keep the water off of his book.

"Sorry! It got boring in our cabin," Nel explained, pulling off her poncho and plastic shoe-bootee-things off.

"So you came to bother us? And how'd you even get over here?" he demanded, pointing out the window, where the wonderful sight of a tree almost doubled over by the wind could be seen.

Starrk spoke up for once. "Poncho, ducked, ran," he explained, gesturing around as he did so. Yes, because that was perfectly clear.

"So," Lilynette said, dropping down next to Tensa. Starrk collapsed next to her, Nel and Harribel next to me. "what've you guys-"

_BOOM!_

It literally sounded like a bomb had gone off outside. A few screams were audible from some of the cabins, and the small overhead light in our cabin flickered before going out.

_"The fuck? ! ?" _Ogihci yelled, falling off of the bunk. We were all freaking out now.

"What was that?" Nel shrieked, trying to hug me. I wriggled out of her grasp (with a lot of difficulty, might I add) and stumbled towards the gray square that was our window.

Craning my neck, I managed to make out a black, spiky shape between the line of cabins and the Firepit. "I... think a tree exploded."

"Did lightning hit it?" I heard Tensa ask from behind me. A mumbled complaint from Starrk and some thumping sounds followed this.

"I don't know. Maybe," I said in reply.

He soon appeared next to me and squinted out the window. "Where?"

I pointed it out to him. "Oh. Bad storm..."

"That's all you have to say about it?" Lilynette squeaked at him. Even though the cabin was near pitch-black at the moment, I could just see her clinging to Starrk, who had his arm wrapped around her small form and was whispering something in her ear. They must have been related somehow.

Our door was banged on again, this time opening to reveal Tōshirō's small, poncho-covered form. He had a grim look on his face as he told us, "Tornado Warning. They said to get a poncho on and get moving."

We all threw apprehensive glances at each other before jumping up, finding the plastic garments and pulling them on.

After a few minutes of slipping and sliding through the crazy weather now surrounding us, we managed to run into Gin, who was ushering a few of the lagging campers along. He noticed us and pointed away, giving an order to, "Go ta Cabin One. Now," with a serious, almost worried expression. That really freaked us out.

We didn't complain and just went. The storm made it hard to see even a few feet, but we located it eventually. Yoruichi pretty much pushed us all into the larger building, which _really_ didn't help with anxiety.

It was laid out kind of like an office, just homier. There was a dividing wall set up off to the right, and an open trapdoor set alongside it in the back. Urahara was standing next to that, his fan partially concealing his concerned expression as he looked out the window to the left.

We walked up to him, and he nodded towards the trapdoor.

"It's a bit cramped down there, but it's better than being out there," he said softly, helping the scared Lillynette down.

The rest of our group followed her down soon enough, and the counselors descended soon after. It was actually a pretty nice cellar, with enough room there so that we could all sit comfortably against the walls as long as we didn't spread out too much.

"Hey, the Emo Gang's here," Grimmjow sneered, leaning back on the wall.

"Shaddup," Ogihci snapped back, shifting so that he could stretch his legs out a bit.

"Why dontcha make me?" he taunted, leaning forward a bit.

Everyone scooted away from them, expecting a wrestling match to break out.

"Enough!" Urahara shouted, to our surprise. "This is serious. Stop acting like children."

Everything simmered down as we listened to the small weather radio in the corner. The guy's voice was _not_ helping.

'-_This storm is considered extremely dangerous and should be treated with extreme caution. ... The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Warning to the following counties..._' He then went on to list at least ten counties, including the one we were in. _'This warning is in effect until four PM, Central Standard Time. All under this effect should take immediate shelter and stay away from any any all windows.'_ The broadcast then went on to describe what to do if you were in a car, trailer, ect.

Lilynette whimpered at this, shrinking up into Starrk's lap. He didn't complain and just tried to comfort her. Several others began to shift around uncomfortably. Urahara turned the radio's volume down and joined in on the other counselor's hushed discussion.

"So... Who wants to play a game?" Cirucci asked, looking hopeful.

"We are not going to play Spin the Bottle," Tensa said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair.

"Who said anythin' 'bout Spin tha Bottle?" Nnoitra slyly asked, giving him a perverted smile.

"Shut up." Tensa's icy eyes seemed to catch something, which he was now focusing on with an odd expression on his face. I looked over and saw what he had.

A small boy was crouched in the corner, looking out of place among us. He looked around Lilynette or Tōshirō's age, and maybe around their size as well. His messy blond hair bore a resemblance to Urahara's, but instead of the goofy, lighthearted aura our counselor usually gave off, there was a slightly creepy, odd feel about him. This may have been because of the way he was staring at us as well as how he was acting, fingers held to his mouth as he hummed slightly.

"Ah, so I see you've noticed our new camper," Urahara noted, easily getting everyone's attention. "Though I really wasn't expecting his first day to be like this..."

We all looked at the kid, who just looked blankly up at Urahara as he moved next to him.

"Everyone, this is my nephew, Wonderweiss. He's hopefully going to be staying here for the summer."

The kid, Wonderweiss, was stared at for a bit longer before someone spoke up. And that person turned out to be Starrk.

"Uh... So who's cabin is he going to be in?"

Urahara just smiled. "I don't know."

"How do you not know where your own nephew's going to stay?"

"I just figured that he could stay wherever until we figured out where he fit best."

Yoruichi facepalmed. Ideas like this seemed to come regularly from our lollipop-loving counselor.

Before we could point out the obvious flaws in his "master plan", a loud clap of thunder rang out, causing everyone, even Harribel, to jump.

"I hope that didn't hit anything..." Yoruichi said, looking up as Urahara knelt down to try and comfort Wonderweiss, who seemed to be freaking out.

As soon as we were sure that Urahara was no longer paying attention, our little group got to talking.

"So, whadaya think 'bout the new kid?" Ogihci whispered, scooting closer to me. I shifted away, feeling kind of uncomfortable.

I don't know what was up with him, but I've already made it quite clear that I'm not really... into _that_. He had toned it down since then, but he's still been trying weird things.

"I don't know..." I mumbled, messing with one of my shoelaces.

"I think he's fine," Tensa said. "Just a little... strange."

"Maybe he's autistic?" I guessed, looking over at the kid, who was playing with a small bouncy ball. "Nothing wrong with that, though..."

We sat in silence for probably the third or fourth time that day. I checked the time on my iPod (yes, I brought it with me).

_3:05_

Ogihci coughed slightly. "So..."

"Hey, I gotta idea!" Gin suddenly declared, standing. We all looked up at him. "Story time!" he trilled.

"Oh God..." Tensa along with a few others groaned, drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his head in his arms as Gin launched into a full-blown, action-packed story about him and this girl stealing candy from a candy store.

I shoved my earphones in and quickly turned a Senses Fail song on. Much better.

Four o'clock couldn't come soon enough.

...

_June Sixth..._

The storm passed without any major damage being inflicted on the campground. Sure, we had quite a bit of fallen tree limbs to pick up, including the lightning-tree bits, and the cabins needed some repair work, but otherwise, everything was fine.

We hadn't been totally sure about Wonderweiss, especially when he tried to set up camp in Cabin Five (much to Cirucci's displeasure), but he didn't really cause any problems, so we all got used to him rather quickly. He did, however, decide to follow Szayel's bubble gum-pink hair into his cabin yesterday. Cabin Seven discovered him in their cabin this morning. We didn't know what happened to make him want to move, but we really didn't want to know.

Today, we were playing a really messed-up game of Hide-'n-Seek. Everyone was playing, even the counselors.

Everyone was hiding anywhere that they could hide. The only limits- we couldn't go inside any buildings, the lake was a no-go zone, and we had to try and not get stuck wherever we hid. Pretty simple rules.

Currently, Grimmjow was "It". I was hiding under the branches of a pine tree. You know, the ones that have the really low-hanging branches? They're really good hiding places.

Anyways, I was pretty sure that Ogihci had figured out how to get up on a cabin's roof and was now hiding up there, out of sight, and Tensa might have been hiding next to one of the boulders near the Firepit. I couldn't be positive, though.

"The hell, Gin?" I heard Grimmjow say from somewhere off to my left. I peeked through the branches of my tree and saw that our counselor was just sitting happily in the middle of a clover patch, completely in the open, with a ticked off punk standing next to him, tapping one of his Vans in the grass. From the looks of things, he hadn't even bothered to hide.

"Ah, looky here!" the silver-haired man slurred, holding something green up to Grimmjow. "A four-leaf clover!"

He just sighed and looked around for a second before jogging off to where I had spotted Cirucci hiding earlier.

Letting out a breath that I hadn't known that I had been holding, I leaned back against the tree trunk, letting my eyes settle on a small gap in the branches that provided a good view of the lake. It actually was pretty nice here... A big change from the rowdy neighborhood that I lived in back home.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when something brushed against my leg. Everything settled down when I saw that it was just Wonderweiss coming to hide. We had learned quickly that he could be like a little ninja when he wanted to be.

A yell that clearly came from Nnoitra reached us along with some pounding footsteps, making both of us look up. A second later, that genius crashed into our little hiding place, landing in between us.

"Hello," he giggled, faking surprise at the sight of me.

"Run!" I commanded before bolting out from under the cover, Wonderweiss following my steps. This probably wasn't the best move.

Grimmjow was on our trail in a second, and Nnoitra fell in beside him soon after, laughing. Wonderweiss somehow managed to keep up with me, but we were quickly slowing down. Running wasn't my forte.

Just when it seemed that the duo was about to jump us, two shouting figures decided to be our saviors. Our demonic saviors, that is.

"_BANZAI! ! !_"

Both of the predators were brought down to the ground by Nel and Ogihci, who had dropped out of trees onto their backs.

Again, it is my firm belief that half of my campmates are secretly ninjas-in-training.

Almost everyone who was still in hiding wandered out into the open to enjoy the sight of Grimmjow in a Half Nelson and Nnoitra getting the life hugged out of him.

Everything was just lighthearted fun until the two captive campers decided to break away from their human restraints and tried to turn on us. It seemed that Wonderweiss had gotten worried about Nel and walked into the fray. Grimmjow didn't see him and ended up accidentally tripping him, sending his small form on a collision coarse with Nnoitra, who wasn't paying attention and got knocked into a random pile of dirt.

We all thought that everything was fine until the tall teen started screaming and freaking out.

"Fuck! Get 'em off, get 'em off!" he yelled, jumping up and slapping at his arms.

We were all confused, not knowing what was going on. Tōshirō grabbed his arm, trying to get him to calm down. "What're you- oh crap!" He jerked away and swiped repeatedly at his hand, squinting at it.

"Out of the way!" Yoruichi commanded, rushing up and pushing Nnoitra towards Cabin One as fast as they could. Gin noticed what she hadn't and took Tōshirō with them, despite his protests.

"Uh... What just happened?" Ogihci asked, watching them go.

"Everyone, get away from the anthill," Urahara calmly said, gently pulling Wonderweiss away from the dirt pile. We all glanced at it once before backing up, seeing the massive swarm of dull red surrounding it. Fire ants.

"Okay, this is important. Cabin Eight, you guys really need to listen," Urahara said in a dead-serious tone. Shinji and Tesra looked over, both of them looking freaked out. "Does anyone know if Nnoitra is allergic to those things? Gin's already looking through files, but we need to know as soon as we can."

"Um... He freaks out whenever he's near ants... Says something about not being around the red ones..." Tesra supplied, rolling a bracelet in-between his fingers.

Urahara nodded slightly before dashing off towards the main cabin.

We were all pretty shaken up, so we walked as a group to the Firepit and sat. A few minutes later, we noticed some distant figures hobbling off towards the main gate.

"Must be heading off to town," Tensa noted from beside me. "Guess he was allergic..."

"I hope he's okay..." both Cirucci and Nel mumbled at the same time, neither of them noticing the odd looks we gave them.

I looked up and noticed three approaching people. Urahara and Yoruichi walked up to us, and Tōshirō quickly joined his group, his hand looking fine.

"Okay, Nnoitra should be fine. Gin's taking him to a town doctor now," Yoruichi sighed, smiling warmly at us. The two concerned girls let out sighs of relief.

"And guess what?" Urahara looked extremely happy about whatever it was that he was about to say. "Since we were a bit... unprepared for that little incident, I'm going to town for some more supplies. Two cabins get to come with!" he sang, waving that stupid fan of his around.

"Which cabins?" Sung-Sun, of all people, asked. It suddenly occurred to me that this was the first thing that I had heard her say other than her name on that first night.

"That's what we're about to figure out!" he answered, taking off his hat. Yoruichi produced six small cards from her pocket and handed them to him.

"Now, is there anyone who just plain _doesn't_ want to go?" she asked, looking around at us.

Tesra raised a shaky hand. "I-I want to wait for Nnoitra..." he whispered, barely audible to us.

Shinji raised his hand as well, but he just grinned.

"You're sure?" our purple-haired counselor asked. They both nodded. "Okay then. Both of you, come up here, please." Tesra and Shinji did as they were told.

"Okay, each of these cards has a number on it representing your cabin. Just... give me _'eight'_..." Urahara handed over the _'eight'_ card. "Okay. Now, these two are neutral parties now, so they're going to be drawing a card apiece. Are you two okay with that?" They nodded once more.

Yoruichi smiled, then took the hat from Urahara after he dropped the cards in. "Whatever numbers they pick will be the cabins going with Kisuke to town. The others will be staying back here with me. We'll find something fun to do! Don't worry," she said, holding the hat out to the two standing next to her. "No peeking!"

They each took a card, then gave them to Urahara as she instructed.

"Okay!" He retrieved his hat and pocketed the cards. "The lucky cabins... Nine and Seven!"

Ogihci and Grimmjow laughed. Tensa and I looked at each other and nodded. Tōshirō just played it cool and looked off in the distance. And Starrk... well, he was asleep.

"Alright, everyone who's not in those cabins, stay where you are. We'll figure out what we're going to do in a second," Yoruichi said, turning to Urahara.

He smiled at us. "'Kay, you guys, down to the dock! I'll be down there in a second."

All six of us started to walk down there soon after, Ogihci and Grimmjow faking a sissy fight the whole way. The rest of our faces said it all- _immature._

Once we got down to where Urahara has specified, we just sat on the shore. None of us, save for maybe the two psychos, wanted a repeat of the Great Swim Fiasco.

Urahara sauntered up soon enough, hat on head, lollipop in mouth, and bag in hand. Wonderweiss was apparently staying behind, though.

"Alrighty, follow me," he laughed, walking down the dock. We slowly followed him, unsure of exactly what he was up to.

"She should be here in a second..."

"Who's coming?" Tōshirō asked, suddenly interested.

"You'll see," Urahara teased, scanning the water's surface.

Our curiosity was soon satisfied when a fairly large motorboat cut through the water towards us. It was piloted by a tough looking, but still strangely attractive, woman, who was waving at Urahara.

"Hey Urahara! How's life treating you?" she asked, pulling the boat in alongside the dock, dropping an anchor and throwing a thick rope to our camp director.

He caught it and tied it off on the dock. "Like always. Everyone, this is Ms. Kūkaku. She'll be taking us to town today."

We all greeted her, Tensa as if he had met her before. She didn't say anything in reply. It took me a second before I realised that both Ogihci and Grimmjow were looking a bit farther down on her body than the rest of us were. I reached over and smacked them both.

"Ow!" Grimmjow rubbed the back of his head and growled at me. Ogihci just gave me a hurt puppy dog look.

"Apologize," Tensa demanded, realizing what they had been doing.

"Sorry..." they both mumbled, threatened by what he might do if they didn't.

"Okay then..." Ms. Kūkaku said, not looking very offended. Just a little weirded-out. Maybe she was just used to the attention her... assets got her. I don't know.

"Put these on," she instructed, passing out life jackets to the six of us, all in different sizes. (Tōshirō's was a bit too large, but that couldn't be helped.)

As we were boarding the boat, I couldn't help but notice that Ms. Kukaku was an amputee. She must have felt my gaze, because she turned in the middle of drawing the anchor in.

"Huh? Oh, this?" she said, raising her prosthetic. "Fishing accident. People used to call me "The Fullmetal Alchemist" because of it."

Urahara chuckled. "Yep. I remember the tantrums you used to throw in the beginning..."

"Oh, shut up," she laughed, playfully splashing him with water as she fully got the anchor in. The rope tying us to the dock was undone, and then we were off.

...

"Where the heck do we find... 'antiseptic band-aids'?" Grimmjow asked.

When the boat had docked at the town's dock, Ms. Kūkaku had tied it off there and told Urahara to come back when he was done with "whatever". Then she had gone to a building off in the distance.

Urahara had pulled out a list as soon as she had left and tore it in half, explaining that we could explore all we wanted too, but we had to get what was on our half of the list before three o'clock. Then we would get back to camp. It was "Like a scavenger hunt!" as he had put it.

Our half mostly contained easy-to-find medical items, along with a few others. Urahara said that his half contained items that people our age, around fourteen to sixteen, would have a hard time buying.

As for buying the stuff, Urahara apparently knew just about every shopkeeper in town, and trips like this had been made in the past, so they would know what was going on. He just gave us some weird bracelets to prove that we were campers, then gave Tensa a card, saying that he was the most responsible senior camper in the group and that he trusted him with it. I'm not really sure what kind of card it was, or what he meant, but I guess it really doesn't matter.

So here we were twenty minutes later, standing in the middle of town like idiots and still trying to figure out which stores sold what. All that we had definitively decided on is that the town bar was _not_ what we were looking for.

"...What about that one?" Tōshirō suggested, pointing at a building behind me that had a few potted plants in front.

"Eh, looks grocery store-ish," Ogihci admitted.

Before we could discuss it further, a little girl walked up to us.

"Are you looking for something?" she asked, playing with the crossbone-style hairpin holding back her bright pink hair.

"Kind of..." I responded, debating whether I should ask or not. She was maybe seven at the oldest, so I really didn't know if I should be asking her anything.

"'Kay. What?" When we didn't answer her, she continued. "Kenny says that you're loitering. I dunno what that means, but if Kenny doesn't like it, then I don't either. He said to find out what you're looking for."

I thought for a moment before telling her what we were looking for. She thought about it for a minute before pointing at a larger building next to the one that we had been about to enter. "I think that one has that stuff. Plus, the ladies that work there are super nice!" She smiled at us before skipping off towards a massive guy sitting on a bench across the way.

After standing there nervously for a second (that guy didn't look like someone that we wanted to mess with), we ventured into the store.

Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by a burnt-orange haired girl who was sweeping the store. "Oh, hi! Welcome to our shop!" she chirped, trying to sweep in a corner.

I took the list from Grimmjow and walked up to her, deciding that we really should ask for help.

"...Excuse me," I said, tapping on her shoulder.

The broom handle smacked me in the face.

"Omigod! Not again..." she shrieked, dropping her broom and moving next to me, looking extremely worried. "Are you okay? I'm so clumsy... You're hurt, aren't you? I'm sorry! So, so sorry! I'm so fired..."

I grunted and looked up at her. Her rant really reminded me of Nel... and she was still going.

"Hey, I'm okay. It's fine," I told her. She wasn't listening.

"I won't have any money for cooking, and she'll get _so_ mad at me, and-"

"Orihime!"

The girl turned to the speaker, gray eyes wide. "Rangiku!"

Sighing, the voluptuous woman, Rangiku, I guess, walked towards us. "Calm down," she told Orihime. Then she looked to me. "Are _you_ okay?"

I pulled my hands away from my face to talk. "Yes." The word came out sounding weird, and I felt something warm run down my chin.

She frowned. "Your nose is bleeding. Come here." My wrist was grabbed, allowing her to lead me to the sales counter. I looked down and saw that my hands were bloody. That along with the coppery taste in my mouth confirmed what she had said.

A bunch of paper towels were shoved into my hand, which I quickly pressed to my nose in an effort to stop the bleeding.

"That should do!" Rangiku announced, hands on her hips. "Um, by the way, what are your names? I haven't seen you around town..."

Ogihci immediately perked up. "Oh, well I'm Ogihci, tha idiot with tha blue hair's Grimmjow..."

"Idiot?" he yelped, looking quickly from Orihime to Ogihci.

The cry was ignored. "Chibi's Lil' Shiro..."

"_T__ō_shirō," he corrected, grinding his teeth.

"Emo Dude One's Tensa, 'n Emo Dude Two over there is Ulquiorra," Ogihci finished, grinning proudly before dropping it and glancing around. "And, uh, Starrk's somewhere 'round here... I dunno where..."

"Oh, okay! Out of towners! That's always fun! So, what're you boys in for?"

Tōshirō walked up to her, the list in his hands. I guess he picked it up when I dropped it. "Our counselor wants us to pick these items up," he said, showing the list to her.

"So you guys are campers?" Orihime exclaimed, rearranging some items on a shelf. "That camp looks really fun! I've always wanted to go there, but... well, I'm not really the type to go..."

"You can come by whenever you want, sweetheart," Grimmjow purred. Tensa glared at him, while Orihime blushed and went back to her work.

"I think we have all of this," Rangiku said, looking around. It seems that she had ignored Grimmjow's comment. "Lets see..." She started pointing to the sections of the small store where different items were located. My campmates quickly got the hint and scattered, retrieving items as they found them. I stayed behind because of my still-blood-covered hands.

Soon enough, everything seemed to be together on the counter, equaling up to around fifteen items.

"Well, there you go! Hey, Orihime? I've got to finish something in the back. Do you think you could ring them up?" the busty woman inquired.

"Sure!" she replied, re-clipping her hair behind a blue hairpin.

"Great! Hey, tell those goofballs called counselors that Rangiku said hi, okay?" Rangiku told us before bouncing back the way she came.

Sooner than we expected, Orihime had finished ringing up the items and had bagged them. "Okay, so that totals to... twenty-two-fifty!"

Tensa gave her Urahara's card. She looked at it for a second before scanning it and typing something in on the banged-up cash register's keyboard. The receipt got tucked into one of the two paper bags, which she pushed towards the edge of the counter. "There! Hey, you _are_ okay, right?" she asked as Tensa and Tōshirō tried to force Grimmjow and his demonic counterpart to carry the bags as punishment for... earlier actions.

I pulled the paper towels away and checked them for fresh blood before answering her. "Yes. You shouldn't worry so much about an accident."

"I'm _really _sorry about that," she apologized yet again, bending down and retrieving some disinfectant wipes from under the counter before offering them to me. I gladly accepted them and wiped the blood from my hands and around my mouth, then tossed them and the paper towels in a small trash can set next to the counter. "Hey, can you guys tell me something?"

"Sure. What?" Tensa answered.

"Is your camp as fun as it seems? Rangiku says that it is, especially since Uncle Gin is there, but she lies sometimes..."

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he replied as I nodded in confirmation.

"'Uncle Gin'?" Ogihci quoted, somewhat confused.

"That's what I've always called him," Orihime explained, a slight blush spreading over her cheeks. "He's really good friends with Rangiku, and she's basically my sister, so... Oh! Sorry, I'm boring you, aren't I?"

Her attention span did seem to be rather short...

"Um, with what I was saying before..." she started again, having gathered her thoughts. "You guys aren't afraid of staying there? Especially because of what happened?"

That got my attention. "And what was that?" Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Tensa and Ogihci share a look. Bingo.

"Oh, you don't know about the kids?"

"Hey, guys? Don't we have to get back to camp soon?" Ogihci suddenly asked us all.

"No. Not for..." I checked my iPod's clock. "...Almost two hours. What were you saying?" I asked Orihime, who looked like she was drifting off into a daydream. She snapped back into focus at the sound of my voice.

"The kids. You don't know about them?" Behind me, Grimmjow and Tōshirō were listening with mild interest, my cabinmates were looking worried, and I have absolutely _no_ idea where Starrk had gone.

"No. What happened?"

Just then, Tensa "accidentally" tripped back and knocked over and oh-so-conveniently-placed empty shelf, producing a loud crash as it hit the floor. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed, quite clearly feigning surprise. He bent down to lift it back into it's normal standing position just as Rangiku came running from the back, in a rush to find out what all of the commotion was about.

"Orihime! Are you okay? What happened?" she blurted out, trying to take in the entire scene at once.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just knocked over your stand. Sorry for the worry," he explained, giving a small, apologetic smile to the adult. This seemed to somewhat comfort her.

"Yeah! I was just telling them about what happened at the camp," Orihime told her "sister". Her broad smile was contradicted by her words, which were laced with sadness.

"What do you mean?" the blond asked, eyes narrowing.

"You know. The kids?" she responded innocently.

Rangiku's eyes immediately widened. "Um, honey... I think Mashiro is looking for you. She called earlier- said that it was important? Something about her cat being missing?"

"Mashiro has a cat?" Orihime questioned. From her tone, I knew that that was a lie.

Great. The locals weren't going to tell me what was up either? This was just getting weirder and weirder...

"I guess. Why don't you go find her?"

"But-"

"No buts. Her cat's going to be gone forever if you don't help out!" Rangiku sang as she pushed her towards the door.

"Uh... okay? Bye you guys!" Orihime half-exclaimed and half-questioned, obviously confused. She was about to leave when she stopped and looked off to the side. "Your friend... Is he okay?" she asked, pointing.

We all moved so that we could see that spot, pretty sure of who we were about to see. Sure enough, there was Starrk, fast asleep with his head against the windowsill, drooling slightly.

Only he could do that and still look semi-cool.

"Yeah... He's usually like that." Grimmjow said with an amused grin.

She glanced at the sleeping teen once more, then left, jogging off to the right.

"Here," Rangiku said, handing the bags to Grimmjow, who shoved one into Ogihci's arms. "I think you should go find your counselor now." Then she walked away.

"...Thank you!" I called to be polite, though I'm not sure if she heard it.

"What was that about?" Tōshirō wondered aloud, looking as confused as the rest of us. The only ones who seemed to have even the slightest clue about that were my cabinmates, who were still looking extremely nervous.

"I dunno. Let's go. This place's creeping me out," Grimmjow said, turning to go. We followed and left before him. About two seconds after leaving, Starrk was dragged out of the shop.

"Dude won't wake up," he complained, trying to keep his grip on the bag. I took it from him before he screwed anything up.

We still had a few hours to kill, so we tried to explore a bit. However, that was extremely awkward because everyone we passed stared at us, either because of our appearances or because Grimmjow had Starrk slung over his shoulder. It was like he was tranquilized or something.

Instead of doing that, we just went and hung around the dock until Urahara returned. Then we returned to camp.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get what Orihime had said out of my mind.

_'Oh, you haven't heard about the kids?'_

I kept wondering what exactly she was talking about. Ogihci and Tensa definitely didn't want me to know about something, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.

If I had known what this was leading to, I would have just dropped it then.

...

_Next..._

_The game is pranks, and pranked do people get. A certain counselor gets into some trouble, and our favorite albino gets hit a few times. But not all is fun and games this week, especially when legends, mirrors, and lights get involved._

* * *

*****- Mokèlé-mbèmbé is a cryptid (hidden animal. I'm not going to call it a monster) said to live in the Congo River Basin. Its name translates to "one who stops the flow of rivers" in the Lingala language, apparently. Believe it or not, it's supposed to resemble a living sauropod dinosaur. Not as far-fetched as it seems. (This is actually one of my favorite legends that isn't about ghosts.)  
If anyone's wondering, Tensa is reading a book called _The Encyclopedia of Monsters_ by Daniel Cohen. It's an old book, but it's a really good read for anyone who's interested in all of the mysteries in this world. Mainly deals with cryptozoology-related stuff, though.

...

**A/N-** Sorry for the wait on this chapter. I only posted it today because I didn't want to get behind on my schedule, but I SWEAR that I'll have the next chapter out on one of my updating days. But I do have some legitimate reasons for this being late. Which mostly involve sleep issues. And the latest English manga. It's still sad. T_T

Anyway... Back to the story. I wrote the storm bit at the beginning while it was storming. They're really bad this year... It reminded me of the times I've been stuck at school because of tornado warnings. They stick us in the weirdest places... I ended up in the principal's office once. And more recently, the girl's locker room. O.o  
If any of you haven't been stuck in a tornado warning before, then that's what it's pretty much like. Find shelter, get something that you can hear/watch the radio/news person on, stay there until the warning's lifted. Sometimes you have to stay there for a few hours. I had to look up a radio broadcast, though. I haven't heard one in a while. It's really freaky when you're watching TV or something and a National Weather Service thing comes on, isn't it? The guy's voice is so slow. XD  
Because I know somebody'll mention it if I don't, Urahara giving Tensa the whatever-card was just because I couldn't think of anything else. It would have just been cash, but then I couldn't stop thinking about Grimmy jacking it...

Wonderweiss is there now! I've always thought that he looks like he could be Urahara's son or something. :) All of the characters that made appearances in this chap or were mentioned will most likely show up sometime in the future. Not exactly sure when, but they will.

Long A/N... Okay, I'm going to go stop being lazy and start writing the next chapter now. As Gin would say, Bye-Bye~!

Review, please!


	4. The Mirror Game

**A/N-** Hey~! I know that adding an author's note here is a bit... unusual for this story, but I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't confuse the crap out of anyone with this. Why? Well... I've had to switch the order of some of the upcoming chapters. Including this one. Another chapter was supposed to be this one, but I've decided to move that one further back in the story (the reason is in the usual author's note). Because of this, I've changed the last chapter's ending a bit, plus switched out the Chapter Preview thing, so I suggest that anyone reading this go back and re-read that first. Sorry about that... So... enjoy, I guess?

...

_O_b_l_i_v_i_o_n

-The Mirror Game-

...

_"Men only think of their past right before their death, as if they were searching frantically for proof that they were alive." -Jet Black, Cowboy Bebop._

...

_June Eleventh..._

"AHHHH! ! !"

"Wha- OW!"

We had all been sleeping peacefully up until the point that Ogihci nearly killed both of us by screaming. Necks had almost been broken and heads had almost been smashed, and we had no idea why. At least, we didn't until we looked over and saw Gin collapsed on the floor, looking as if he had been pushed.

"Out!" Ogihci yelled, jumping off of his bunk and proceeding to beat our counselor with his pillow.

"Aw, but I was just doin' my job..." Gin pouted, trying to brace himself against the door frame and stay in our cabin.

"OUT!"

"Okay, okay. So bossy..."

As soon as Gin had skipped down the steps, our pale cabinmate slammed the door shut and collapsed against it, letting out a deep breath. We both stared at him.

"So... want to tell us what that was about?" Tensa asked, descending the ladder attached to our bunk.

"I woke up 'n he was staring at me," Ogihci replied, rubbing his chin.

"Why?" I asked, stretching.

"I dunno... Probably his idea of a prank. Tha counselors're supposed ta mess with us."

"Last time they decided to start pranking, half of us woke up in the lake," Tensa supplied.

"Uh... okay..."

"Yeah, be careful of _everything_ now."

...

After lunch, we were all just trying to relax and trying to avoid Nnoitra. He had come back yesterday because the town doctor had wanted to monitor him for a day or two. You know, so he wouldn't die or anything. He said that he hadn't minded because the doctor was "totally hot".

Regardless, he was now trying to get his revenge on Wonderweiss, apparently because his accident was _totally_ his fault.

The only problem for him... You know how I said that the kid was like a ninja when he wanted to be? Yeah, I wasn't lying. He could hide pretty much anywhere he wanted too, he was fast, and he could _fight_. That's right. Most of us were now entertaining ourselves by cheering either him or Nnoitra on as they brawled.

And as Ogihci put it, Nnoitra was "getting his spoony ass kicked".

Almost everyone was cheering Wonderweiss on, even Gin, who was shouting for him to "take Nnoi down!".

A few minutes after the fight broke out, Yoruichi showed up, preventing Nnoitra from being curb stomped by our newest camper. Gin played in innocent and managed to not get blamed for once.

Instead of going back to relaxing after that, me and Tensa now had a new task. We had to catch Ogihci.

It seems that the idiot decided that he should join in on the counselor's game and made Tōshirō his first target. To make a long story short, huge freaking beetle, plus spiky white hair, equals a very pissed off camper. (We're still not exactly sure where he found that thing.)

Tōshirō had freaked when he found the monster bug on his head, needing Starrk's help to get it out (it's legs did _not_ want to let go). Grimmjow just sat there, laughing at him. As a result. he almost ended up _eating_ another one of those beetles when it had been chucked at his face. I'm sure that he would have attempted murder just then, but the culprit had disappeared like smoke.

So we were now trying to find the psycho in the surrounding forest. A surprisingly difficult task, considering how much he stood out.

"Ogihci," Tensa called, looking around at the trees. "This isn't funny!"

"Oh yes it is, Zanny!" he giggled from somewhere nearby.

I looked around for a second before getting an awful idea and looking up. Wrong move.

Tensa and I were immediately bombarded by walnuts by the demon perched overhead.

"AH! Come on!" he yelled as we both covered our heads. We really didn't want to get a concussion at the moment.

"Ha! Can't touch this!" Ogihci sang, dropping down from the tree before running straight into an oncoming punch.

"Harribel?" I asked, looking from her to the collapsed albino.

She looked up at us and planted her foot on Ogihci's head in one swift motion, preventing him from rising. Then she pulled what looked like a touch phone from her pocket and typed something in on it.

"I forgot that you even had that," Tensa remarked fondly. I truly had no idea what he was talking about.

She held up her phone, showing us the large text being displayed on the screen. _'Hey, Starrk and I were wondering- do either of you guys want to go wading?'_

"Uh, sure," I said, looking her phone over. Well, I guess she couldn't use her notepad all the time. "Tensa?"

"What about me?" Ogihci mumbled from underneath Harribel's sandaled foot. She just put more weight on it.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to go punish the idiot," he replied, walking up and switching places with the blond. Ogihci just groaned. "Thank you, Harribel."

She nodded before jerking her head backwards in a gesture for me to follow. I did.

...

"Hey!" Starrk exclaimed, trying not to fall as Harribel splashed him.

We had been wading for a while, and it actually was pretty fun. Little fish and other water animals were darting around everywhere, the water felt great, and there was a lot to explore. Plus, it was near ninety degrees out, wading really seemed to wake Starrk up quite a bit, and Harribel just seemed to be a water person.

The only downside of the trip was that our blond campmate really couldn't communicate with us. A notepad or a phone really weren't good choices when you were surrounded by water.

This didn't seem to bother her, though, so we didn't let it bother us. We were all pretty focused on not falling, so talking really wasn't a priority.

"Ah! Stop it!" Starrk cried once more, almost falling back as he was splashed again. Harribel grabbed his arm and pulled him into a standing position before he could hit the water.

"Thanks," he said, looking down at a school of minnows darting by.

"So, are you two friends?" I asked, looking down as I took another step. The mud felt so weird...

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Lilynette and I live across the street from Harribel," Starrk explained, lazily running his hand through the water.

"Lilynette's your sister, right?" Again, my curiosity had gotten the best of me.

"Yeah. Adopted," he said with a sad look in his eyes. I decided not to press it.

Harribel suddenly stuck her arm out to stop us, looking off in the distance at something.

"What?" Starrk asked before he spotted it.

"A heron?" I guessed. That was the only real water bird that I really knew off the top of my head other than ducks, so...

She nodded, gazing at the bird thoughtfully, while Starrk narrowed his eyes and started to slowly creep towards the large, grayish bird.

"What're you doing?" I hissed, not wanting to scare it.

"Seeing how close I can get without it flying away," he replied over his shoulder before moving closer to the shore.

Before I could blink, Harribel had rushed forward and grabbed him by the arm, preventing him from going any further. He looked back with a confused look, which I mimicked. "Uh... Harribel?"

She shook her head no, then pulled him up on the nearby shore, motioning for me to follow. We were both led back to the spot where we had left out stuff, where Harribel sat and began tugging her boots back on, making sure to pull her phone out of the left one first.

"Uh... okay then?" I said, dropping down next to her and brushing dried grass off my ankle so that I could pull my shoes off as well. Starrk did the same after a moment of hesitation.

"Mind telling us what that was all about?" Starrk asked kindly, laying back on the grass and crossing his arms behind his head.

Harribel glanced at him before picking her phone up and tapping her response in. _'Sorry. There's a fish nest there that I didn't want to disturb.'_

"Fish nest?" He blinked.

"Do fish even make nests?" I wondered aloud.

_'Some do,'_ Harribel's phone read.

Before she could type anything else, Ogihci came running towards us, laughing his head off.

"Wassup?" he panted before trying to run for it as Tensa came running up behind him. I sighed and reached out to grab his ankle, effectively tripping him and sending him sprawling.

"Th-Thanks..." Tensa got out, resting his hands on his knees. He soon caught his breath and looked up at me. "You want to help punish him?"

"I'm afraid to ask," I replied, causing Starrk to snort.

Tensa just shook his head as Ogihci tried to scramble away. The albino was then tackled and put into a headlock, being dragged away with a small wave from my cabinmate.

"...So..." Starrk started awkwardly after they had disappeared.

Harribel held up her phone again. _'Sorry. I've got to go.'_ She stood, only sparing a glance back at the lake before walking off towards the Firepit.

Starrk and I shared a look between each other before departing as well. As I left to find something else to do, I couldn't help but think that there might be another reason for her aversion of that spot.

...

"Ooh, _Saw_! _Saw_ scared the crap out of me!" Luppi revealed as we all sat around the small fire.

We actually hadn't lit a fire since the first official day of camp, and because some of the campers were pyromaniacs, someone had managed to convince the counselors to let us light a small one. This resulted in several burns, Nnoitra getting slugged by Wonderweiss, and Grimmjow's lighter being confiscated. He was _not_ happy about that.

The fire was only a fraction of the size of the last one, and we weren't roasting anything on it, but it was just big and bright enough to cast most of the Firepit area in a warm, flickering glow, inviting us all into conversation. As a plus, the weather right now was being weird, so the fire's warmth was welcomed.

So far, our group discussion had resulted in Yoruichi yelling at us to be quiet from her cabin (she had actually gotten sick earlier), Gin trying to scare us with some cheesy ghost story that wouldn't scare a toddler, Nnoitra telling an extremely dirty joke that left all of us either shocked, laughing, or wanting to kill him (I'll leave you to imagine what the joke was like), and our current topic involving our favorite horror movies.

"That movie was so creepy!" Cirucci gasped, remembering what had happened in that legend of a movie.

"The ending was BEAST!" Ogihci laughed out.

I nodded my head in his direction. "I second that."

"Hey Starrk," Lilynette started, turning to her miraculously awake brother. "'member that one movie we watched last Halloween? Whatsitcalled... The one with the lesbo kissing scene?"

"Lilynette!" Starrk gasped as half the camp burst out laughing.

"What?" she asked, trying to sound innocent but failing miserably, with her lips upturning into a grin.

"Ah man! _That's_ what you remember from that movie? I don't blame ya- that scene was pretty hot, but still!" Grimmjow laughed. "Which movie _was _that, anyways?"

Starrk sighed, too weirded out to reply. So I did instead.

"Wasn't that _Jennifer's Body_?"

"Ooh, that scene was awesome!" Ogihci said, looking around excitedly. "Rest of the movie was pretty dull, though... But when the band-"

"Okay, some of us haven't seen it. Don't spoil it!" Nel told him, throwing a piece of bark from a nearby log at his head.

"Fine, fine. So, what's yer favorite scary movie?" Ogihci slurred out in a fashion eerily reminiscent of Ghostface's.

"_Rosemary's Baby_ was pretty good," she replied, playing with a lock of her hair.

"That rape scene scarred me for life..." Cirucci told everyone. A lot of us nodded in agreement.

Urahara suddenly decided to pop that lollipop out of his mouth and speak up then. "_Scream _was pretty fun," he said, smiling at the thought.

"We're talkin' 'bout horror, not comedies," Gin informed him, happily twirling a blade of grass in his hand.

"Fine. What about _High School Musical_? That kid's hair was pretty scary."

Okay, I'll admit it. I laughed a bit at that. But so did nearly everyone else. Even Harribel.

"I liked _Two Girls, One Cup,_ personally," Gin snickered, deciding to continue with the bad joke.

More laughing.

"Nasty!" Shinji laughed, trying not to fall.

"Oh, come on. Ya-Ya know ya _loved _watching that!" Ogihci tried to say before collapsing at the end of his sentence with the oddly hilarious situation.

Looking back after the fact, I really didn't get what we were finding so funny, but oh well. We were all falling apart at that point. While everyone else was nearly dying, some of us were trying hard _not _to laugh. Sung-Sun was biting her sleeve to prevent herself from making a sound, Harribel was doubled over, burying her head in her arms and resting them on her knees while shaking, Tensa had basically lost it, and I had my hand clapped over my mouth, unintentionally leaning heavily against Ogihci in an attempt to not end up like everyone else.

"Having fun there?" he asked, stopping his hysterics and hugging me suddenly.

I brought my elbow up and slammed it into his chin. That ended that.

"Hey, you know what?" Szayel suddenly asked, pulling himself together and looking around. "Who's got a ghost story? ...Not you, Gin," he added as our creepy counselor tried to tell us another surely crappy story.

"Heard 'bout that road where tha girl jumps in yer car when ya drive down it?" Nnoitra asked.

"Who hasn't?" Tensa told him, looking up from the ground, where he was still lying.

"What about the suicide song?" Sung-Sun supplied.

"I've heard that song- it's just a state of mind," I declared, thinking it over.

"Well, what about Bloody Mary?" Tōshirō said, trying to get Gin to leave him alone.

"Ooh, yeah!" Ogihci happily exclaimed, springing back up into a sitting position.

"Think it works?" Shinji questioned curiously.

Luppi inched closer to Szayel."Uh... Let's not find out..." he mumbled.

"Scared?" Ogihci grinned at something after he said that, then looked the small teen straight in the eye. "I want to play a game," he proceeded to grumble out, trying to mimic the voice that Jigsaw used with Billy. Since his voice somewhat distorts everything that he says, it just sounded ten-times creepier than it should have.

Luppi shrank up and tried to hide behind Szayel while everyone else cracked up. Tensa shoved Ogihci off the boulder. "Not funny."

"My aunt told me about some... Hanako-san and Aka Manto?" I mentioned, trying to change the topic again.

"Aren't those Japanese?" Tensa asked me, ignoring Ogihci, who was whining childishly.

"Yes..."

"I don't think they apply here."

"I never said they did. They're just ghost stories..."

"Whatever you say... Hey, where'd Nel go?" he asked, looking around.

"And Lilynette?" Starrk added, searching worriedly.

"Oh, they went to go prove to Luppi that that legend wasn't real," Szayel supplied, crossing his legs. "Dragged him in the Girl's room. I feel sorry for him."

"They... dragged him in tha Girl's?" Ogihci asked, blinking.

"Lucky bastard..." both Grimmjow and Nnoitra mumbled at the same time. Harribel managed to reach over and slap the punk, while Tensa threw a pebble at his companion.

"Language, boys," Urahara yawned before laying back on the grass.

"Okay then.." Cirucci whistled, kicking her feet a bit. "So... you think they're having fun trying to get themselves killed?"

"You don't really believe in that crap, do ya?" Grimmjow asked her.

"Mmm... I don't know," she replied, looking up. Then she glanced at him, a mischievous look coming to her eyes. "But-"

"Okay, don't even say whatever you're about to say," he sighed.

"Why not?"

"Because it'll probably be something that no one really wants to hear," Sung-Sun told her.

"No one asked you!"

"Holy crap, she can talk!" Shinji gasped, waving his hat around. "It's a miracle!"

"Shut up," Cirucci commanded, defending her cabinmate.

"AHH! NO!"

We all turned to find Luppi running towards us looking downright terrified. Behind him, Lilynette was following, laughing harder than I had ever seen her laugh. Nel was nowhere to be seen.

"Uhh..." Szayel really didn't have anything intelligent to say as the small teen dove behind him, cowering.

"What did you guys do?" Tensa asked her, looking at the counseling spectacle being preformed by Cabin Six.

"The chant thing. Then Nel and I pre-pretended to see something in the mirror. he freaked out and ran for it."

"Where is Nel, anyways?"

"Um, she stayed behind..." she mumbled, looking back towards the bathrooms.

"Oh."

"So, ya believe in that scary Bell Witch now?" Nnoitra drawled at her.

"Tha's a totally different thin', Spoony," Gin told him, placing another small log on the fire.

"Both in mirrors, righ'? Wassit matter?"

"That Bell Witch was an actual hauntin'. Mary wasn'," he happily explained. It seemed like he was happy twenty-four-seven... Maybe he and Urahara shared a stash?

"Since when're ya a Ghost Buster?" the lanky teen demanded, obviously annoyed at how his comment had been shot down.

"Nah. Uncle Gin's just a smarty," our counselor proudly replied.

We all just rolled our eyes.

"Wha'ever... So?"

Luppi just whimpered from under Szayel's arm.

"Tch... Wimp."

Nnoitra just laid back again, only to look over his shoulder a second later.

Nel was rushing up to our group, looking like she had just ran all the way from the other side of camp.

"Wha's tha rush? Seen a ghosty?" Gin teased, acting like the idiot he always seemed to be.

"Uh, n-no..." she got out, looking back for a second before taking her seat with her cabin.

Harribel and I shared a glance, understanding simutaniously.

I left it all to her.

...

_June Thirteenth..._

Tensa was just above me, easily balancing on the tree branch. I was just trying to climb higher as Ogihci tried to grab my ankles. He just grazed my left one as I pulled myself up to Tensa's opposite.

We were climbing trees. Again. But this time, it was just the three of us. I'm not sure why Ogihci was trying what he was, maybe to hit on me again, but it really was irritating. He was now trying to climb up to our perch, and Tensa was close to using a modified drop-kick on him when a rock came out of nowhere and hit him in the chest, throwing him off balance and sending him down to the ground.

I glanced down, and sure enough, Harribel was lurking down there, looking up at me. When she saw that I had noticed her, she waved for me to come down.

As I moved to drop down to a lower branch, Tensa looked at me quizzically before catching sight of Harribel. He waved before giving me an all-knowing grin and asking, "So... Are you and Hallie hooking up, or...?"

I smacked him before finally descending.

"Hey," I greeted, swiping some loose leaves off of my shirt.

She nodded before grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the tree. I vaguely heard the sound of Ogihci whistling and a thump that I could only assume was Tensa's drop-kick of doom. Both of our eyes were rolled at this.

I was led to the far end of the dock, where only Szayel and Luppi were present. It only took one cold glare from Harribel to send them scampering back down the dock, taking whatever they had found in the water with them.

"Did you ever figure out what freaked Nel out so much?" I asked, breaking the ice. I figured that that was the only reason she would want to be so far away from everyone else.

The blond nodded before pulling that phone of hers from her front pocked and sitting down, patting the space next to her in an effort to get me to do the same. I slowly sat as she typed something in.

_'What exactly have you been seeing?'_

"Uh... What are you talking about?"

_'You know. Don't pretend like you don't.'_

"...I really-"

_'The cemetery? And I know that there's been other incidents. There always are.'_

I had been hoping that she wasn't talking about that. "Harribel, I really don't want to talk about it..."

She took me in for a second before sighing and setting her phone down on her thigh. What she did next, though, completely took me by surprise. She pulled her collar down, revealing her face.

I was staring at her at that point. Not because I was being rude, but because... well, I had never really seen her face before. I had always thought that maybe she covered it because of a scar or something, but there really wasn't a reason for her to do it.

Her phone was held up again. _'Do you know why I don't talk?'_

"I've wondered..." I replied, still taken aback by her action.

_'It's because the world is too loud. I don't talk, and I muffle any sound that I do make, but I communicate. So why can't you?'_

Harribel's logic made sense... in an odd, somewhat crazy way. And she was right. So I finally manned up and told her about it. The shadow. The presence. The sounds. Everything.

After I had finished with telling her about the sounds and finally shut up, she just looked at me, her brow furrowed as if something was troubling her. She hadn't reacted at all the whole time that I had been talking, and that was fine, but now she was sort of creeping me out. I mean, she still hadn't re-raised her collar, and it was just... weird.

She must have realized that she was making me uncomfortable, because she pulled the thin fabric back up before responding.

_'Sorry. I just figured that you were seeing something... different. Guess I should stop making assumptions.'_

"What did you think I was seeing, then?" I asked, shifting into a more comfortable position and stretching my legs out.

Harribel moved as well, but she moved closer to the edge of the dock and unstrapped her sandals, taking the opportunity to dip one foot into the water while crossing the other over her thigh.

I waited patiently while she just stared down at the water. She really seemed to like it.

_'We see a light.'_

"Light?" It was kind of random, though I did remember her saying something about lights a while ago.

_'Yeah... A little bluish-white light. I've seen it every summer for a few years now.'_

"Has anyone else seen it?" I inquired, truly curious. It sounded really weird... Maybe even weirder than the shadow.

_'I've asked around. Most of us girls have, apparently. Nel saw it last night, in fact. No boys, but Luppi said that he saw something like it...'_

"Maybe the ghost got confused," I mumbled jokingly, resulting in her giving a muffled laugh and trying to push me before regaining her composure.

_'Be serious. Anyways, I've also asked the counselors, and they don't seem to know anything about any weird stuff happening here.'_

"...Do you think that they're ghosts, or...?" I asked, referencing both of our experiences.

_'Maybe... I got close to it once. It disappeared a second later, but before it did... I smelled, like, flowers.'_

"Flowers? Like the ones in front of our cabins?"

_'Not really. More like... I don't really know what to compare it to. Maybe an iris or lily? Whatever it was, it smelled nice.'_

I nodded. "So the light is the only weird thing you've seen here?"

_'Yeah, pretty much. Except... Do you remember that spot in the lake that I stopped Starrk from going in?'_

"Yes. I knew there wasn't really a fish nest there," I sighed, stretching.

_'Good memory. You're going to think that I'm crazy, but... Look, I've waded and swam in that lake every year that I've come here. I've memorized it's layout. It's really peaceful, except for that one spot. I don't know why, but that spot feels... wrong. Like something bad happened there. Really bad. I don't like it...'_

"Weird..."

_'I know.'_

Both of us just kind of sat there after that, thinking each others words over in our heads. We talked a little bit, but mostly, we just watched the lake, wondering what exactly was going on. With both the campgrounds and the lake... If the picturesque landscape had ever been disturbed. If the deep, seemingly everlasting blue stain had ever been ruined.

...

_Next..._

_Some questions get answered, but not without some corresponding questions get raised at the same time. Pranks get pulled by the most unlikely of people, and something... unusual is seen? I don't know, but Cabin Six sure seems to like it._

* * *

__**A/N-** Uh... Sorry for not updating last week. I had some personal stuff to take care of, plus my mom (for whatever reason) wants me to start preparing for school now, so I hope that you guys can understand. *dodges various thrown objects* ...Okay, I probably deserved that. But to make up for my absence, I'll (hopefully) be posting another chapter sometime this weekend, if not tomorrow, as well. That makes up for it, right? *ducks to avoid more stuff* ...Whatever.

I believe that almost everyone out there has heard of the Bloody Mary legend? It might be Mary Worth in some areas, but whatever. I figured that they would have fun with that. :)  
The pranking... IT BEGINS. A family friend of mine used to be a camp counselor, and he told me at one point that pranking was actually part of his job description. I could not resist. There won't be that much, but it'll be there.  
And yes, there are fish that actually make nests. Sunfish do, I think.

And what Harribel was talking about before makes a return. Don't worry. By the time I'm done with this fic, everything will be explained.  
Oh! The reason why I changed the order of things... I was just starting to write the chapter that was supposed to be this one when I realized- some of what happens in that chapter wouldn't make sense unless what happened in this chapter and what's coming up happens first. I don't know how that slipped my mind, but it did. I know for a fact that it won't happen again because I've finally cracked down and planned this whole story out completely. I had it mapped out, but I didn't have each and every chapter planned exactly.  
I think you're going to like how this ends. :)

Well, review and tell me what you thought of everything~


	5. Nightlights

...

_O_b_l_i_v_i_o_n

-Nightlights-

...

_Alas! must it ever be so?  
Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go,  
And fight our own shadows forever?  
-Owen Meredith (Lord Lytton), Lucile (1860)_

...

_June Twenty-Eighth..._

I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't even gotten any sleep. All because of those sounds.

They still occurred at night, even after all of this time, but they hadn't even gotten that close. It almost sounded like they were circling the cabin. Definitely footsteps, but when I finally got the guts to get up and peek outside, there wasn't anyone or anything there other that the fireflies. I hadn't expected there to be.

As we were dragging ourselves to the Firepit for breakfast, Tensa kept sending me worried looks before finally asking if I was okay.

"I'm fine. Just tired..." I replied, rubbing at my eye.

"Man, ya look like crap," Ogihci remarked, staring at my face. "You sleep at all last night?"

"I slept..."

"Not well enough, apparently," Tensa stated as I tripped over a tree root. Ogihci snickered at this.

"Not funny," I growled, righting myself. "It's not even my fault. It's those damn footsteps..."

He gave me a funny look. "Uh... What?"

"Footsteps. You don't hear them?"

Both of my cabinmates looked at me like I was crazy.

"...No?"

"I haven't seen anything either," Tensa said, looking up at the slightly overcast sky. "But if it has anything to do with _that_, then I don't want to talk about it."

"Huh?" I stopped. "Are you not man enough to talk?"

"What?" he hissed, glaring at me.

Ogihci just started laughing away at this. "Yer right, Ulqui. Zanny always gets called a girl!" he sang, jumping out of the way as Tensa attempted to kick him.

"I do not!"

"Do to!"

"You guys are like five year olds..." I sighed, moving out of the way as they chased each other.

Tensa coughed, slowing down to a standstill. "Well, it was probably just a deer or something. Not dangerous."

"Stop worrin', Ulqui. Jason's not gonna getcha," Ogihci tried to joke, looping his arm over my shoulder happily.

I sighed and wriggled away from him before he could try anything else. "I wasn't worrying..."

Ogihci pouted a bit, then perked up and dashed off to the Firepit to tackle Grimmjow. Tensa shrugged and calmly followed him, while I lurked behind him, thinking things over.

...

After breakfast (normal stuff like eggs, for once), I went to investigate the since Harribel had told me her experiences, I had been curious about that spot. Unfortunately, I hadn't had the chance because something was always in the way. Whether it was another jacked-up campwide game, dealing with Szayel or Ogihci's pervyness, or doing some random task, I had just been too busy. But now that everyone was just doing their own thing, I was free to do whatever. So I was trying to track down the spot that we had gone wading in.

It was somewhat off to the side, set more near the dock than anything, thought I wasn't sure of exactly _where_. I knew that we had been somewhere with fairly shallow water for about fifteen feet out, extremely clear water with a few rock clusters scattered about, and a few lakeside plants drooping over the waves.

The problem was, there were several different spots fitting that description. I had almost decided to just keep checking to see if we had left any lasting footprints or anything when I remembered- there had been a large rock jutting out of the water a few feet in resembling a turtle. So I just searched for that. Everything was surprisingly easy after that.

Looking out over the water, I tried to remember where exactly the spot was, but it was near impossible. (It's amazing how much a landscape could change in a week...) So I moved on to my backup plan- trying to find what I was hoping still remained after more than a week. It was a long shot, but if I was lucky, then the footprints we left in the mud still remained. Not likely, but- oh, _jackpot._

It wasn't much, but I could just see some spots where the sediment had been disturbed. Peering even closer, I saw some very faint impressions that I was certain were Starrk's footprints from when he was stalking the heron, probably remaining because he was the heaviest one in the group.

Tracing them, I found where they stopped and led up to the shore, locating the spot that Harribel had indicated. So I walked along the shore up to it.

And then backed away. Apparently, it was a very specific area, which I had just stepped into. She had _not _been lying about how it felt. Just... heavy. Almost like when you were in the deep end of the pool and just kind of floated near the middle... And just a tinge of foreign emotion thrown in.

I inched back up to the water's edge, wanting to make sure that I hadn't somehow imagined it. What came was the same result- heaviness and... fear. The sense to run away. It was almost overwhelming.

What happened after that just made me want to run like my instincts told me, to back away like I had and just keep going. I forced myself to stay put.

It was just a flash of a memory... sort of. And not mine. Just... the stars. The sense of panic. But everything was dull. So dull...

As soon as that hit me, I doubled over, barely managing to steady myself on my knees. It had just startled me... and that mixed with the emotions just wore me out.

I guess I spaced out a bit, because the next thing that I could remember was, quite vaguely, being led away from the water, and then Harribel was kneeled in front of me, trying to get a good look at my face while gently shaking my shoulder.

She didn't need her phone or notepad this time; her eye's said it all.

_'Are you okay?'_

"I'm... I'm fine," I said. Then my legs gave out.

The last thing I remembered was the feeling of Harribel slowing my fall and a voice shouting for Urahara before it all went black.

...

...

_-Tensa's POV-_

_"Urahara!"_

I had just been chilling out with Nel, Starrk, his sister, and Wonderweiss when that shout reached me. We had been peacefully playing a game of Jenga (well, most of us were. Wonderweiss was just kind of playing with some random flowers from around camp), and Starrk was pwning us all.

But that particular sound just shattered any tranquility that we had.

Just about everyone within the vicinity looked over, startled. I'm sure that the others just thought that our fun-loving counselor was just messing with someone, but only Ogihci, Nel and I could really hear the underlying danger associated with that voice.

_Harribel._

She never talked. _Ever_. The only reason I even recognized her voice was because of the heated conversation between her and her dad that I had overheard all those years ago. It was distinctive- oddly deep for a girl's, really scratchy and rough from underuse.

Her shouting, or saying anything _period_, was like a siren going off in the middle of a town; it either meant that something was very, very wrong or, as Ogihci had once put it, shit was about to hit the fan.

Since I didn't hear any more shouts after that, I ruled out the second one and jumped up simultaneously with Nel, startling Wonderweiss. I apologized quickly before we ran off to find out what it was. Ogihci joined us along the way with a oddly worried expression stuck on his face.

"Whadaya think happened?" he asked both of us, shoving a chunk of white hair out of his eyes.

"Something bad," was all I said, keeping my path directed at where I thought the yell had issued from.

As we neared the dock, I could tell that something was definitely up. The residents of Cabin Eight, plus Grimmjow, were clustered on the dock, appearing as if they had been handlining previously. They were all looking at something on the shoreline, appearing just as confused as we were. I didn't know why until we all caught sight of what they had.

About a dozen feet from the lake, I could see a green-clothed person who I could only assume was Urahara and a smaller girl (quite clearly Harribel, judging by the blond mop on her head), kneeling next to what appeared to be a black figure collapsed on the ground.

We got closer, and I could now see that Harribel had pulled down that collar of her's, making me do a double take. That little surprise was pushed away as I caught sight of the figure's pale skin, messed-up hair... wait...

"Crap. Ulquiorra!" I shouted,, running ahead of my companions to figure out what was wrong.

Behind me, I heard Nel draw in a breath and Ogihci say "What? Oh. Shit!" before they copied my actions.

Harribel glanced up as we ran up before she returned to staring at the passed-out boy in front of her. Urahara appeared to be pulse and other vitals with a serious look on his face.

"What exactly happened again?" he asked her, glancing up before looking back down at his watch and removing his fingers from Ulquiorra's neck.

Bright, aqua eyes flickered from him to us and back again before she sighed and proceeded to rapidly sign something. Despite the situation, it was pretty impressive. I mean, I knew she knew sign language, but she rarely used it (at least at camp). Even when she did, though, I had never seen her sign _that _fast.

Urahara just nodded, seemingly understanding the frantic gestures. "I see. So-"

"Is he okay?" Nel interrupted, completely overcome by worry. Weird. She usually only did that with Ichigo...

He looked over his shoulder, apparently deciding to fake just noticing our presence. "Ah, hello Ms. Nelliel! And dear Ulqui's friends!" he sang, whipping that stupid fan out from somewhere in that weird coat-thing of his and sticking it in his face.

This apparently angered Ogihci. "Cut tha crap, Kisuke. 's he okay?"

Our counselor pulled the fan away and turned back to our cabinmate, frowning. "I think so... It's probably just heat exhaustion. we need to get him out of the sun, though."

Ogihci stepped forward to help, but I grabbed his arm to stop him as Urahara managed to pick Ulquiorra up bridal-style. As he walked off towards the cabins, Harribel jumped up and hurried after him, pulling her collar up as she did so. Nel went off after her, probably to see if she was okay.

"...Wonder why Hallie's so worried 'bout him..." Ogihci mumbled from beside me, messing with one of the rips on his jeans. I was surprised that he wasn't trying to go along with the girls, but I guess he was just trying to avoid Hat-and-Clogs' Wrath. He could get really uncomfortable to be around if one of us got hurt.

"Maybe they're just hooking up," I teased, watching them go.

"Better not be..."

"Stop being so weird."

...

...

_-Ulquiorra's POV-_

I cracked open my eyes only to see the ceiling. But not my Cabin's.

I quickly sat up, trying to figure out where exactly I was. As a reward, my head decided to give me a massive headache. Since sitting up didn't seem to be an option, I resulted to lying back down and just turning my head a bit to the right. There. Much better.

So apparently, I was on a couch in what looked like the Main Cabin, covered in a light weight Pokemon blanket. Yes, _Pokemon_.

Giving up on that little gem of randomness, I sighed, winced at the ache produced by that, and tried to remember how I had gotten in that position. Hmm... Ghost spot... weird memory flashes, blackout, Harribel, then... I guess that's how. Weird...

I took a glance back to the right, but just saw green, white, and the folds of a fan before my arm reflexively smacked Urahara away.

...Well, at least the fan was out of my face.

He fell back into a sitting position, appearing unharmed. He then waved the fan at me, all the while saying "Why hello, Ulqui! Sleep well?" in an annoying, sing-song voice. It's people like him who make me avoid everyone... And why the hell was he reminding me of Snufkin? I haven't even read one of those books in years...

Wow, that was random. Maybe I hit my head earlier... Either that or Ogihci somehow did something to me.

"Urahara... It's "Ulquiorra", not "Ulqui"," I sighed, flexing my arm a bit. There was _definitely _going to be a bruise there later.

"Sure, sure," he responded in a carefree manner before a mischievous glint came to his eyes. "So... Did you just forget the water or did Hallie-bell, er, make you overheat?"

"What?" I asked flatly, hoping that the headache was just messing with my hearing.

"Ah, don't act innocent," he scolded lightly, smiling. "We see what's going on. Just know- boys and girls stay in _separate _cabins."

For the love of... Why does the world just go out of it's way to mess with me?

"Not you too... That is _not _what's going on," I told him, hoping for their own safety that Tensa and Ogihci hadn't been spreading rumors.

"Yep! We see all,"He declared, finally putting the fan away. "Uh, what was I going to say again? Oh! You've gotten all of your friends all worried, so..."

"Okay..." I mumbled, trying to rise despite my headache.

Urahara immediately put his hand on my shoulders, trying to prevent me from getting up. "Nope! No getting up for you!"

I just glared at him, trying to ignore the fact that the fan had reappeared. He continued, saving me the trouble of asking.

"Heat exhaustion. You need to take it easy for a while. And that means no running around!" He smiled and stood, wandering over to a table set near the door, tossing a water bottle that was lying there at me. "Drink up. I'm going to go see if I can find your girlfriend or anyone now, so don't go anywhere!"

Before I could correct him or anything, the door had already closed. I slowly sat up to avoid more pain and twisted the bottle cap off, taking a sip while shoving that blanket off. I really didn't want to know why he had that thing... Or why he had put it over me.

Staring down at the little ripples going through the bottle suddenly brought the earlier incident back to thought. That was... disturbing. Even more so because of where it had happened. Truthfully, I didn't want to think about it, but I guess that Harribel would want to know later...

...

_June Twenty-Ninth..._

"Okay, give the hat back... No! Don't give it to him!"

Urahara was currently attempting to get his hat back from Wonderweiss, who had taken it after being inspired by a prank pulled by a certain member of Cabin Eight earlier in the day.

Just after breakfast, Nnoitra had disappeared without anyone noticing (other than his Cabin, but that isn't relevant). A few minutes after that, Gin was slammed with a paper plate covered with shaving cream, apparently for creeping Tesra out. After that, they had ended up "playing a game of tag", as Gin later told Yoruichi to avoid trouble.

Wonderweiss had watched them for a while like everyone else, then decided to snatch his uncle's hat for no apparent reason, resulting in the current situation.

We were just looking on because, well, _come on_. It was funny. Even more so after Nnoitra and Gin had joined in to play a twisted form of keep away.

At some point, Grimmjow joined what had now turned into a game, even for Urahara. This seemed to be the tipping point for some of the other campers, as Nnoitra was soon glomped to the ground by Nel. That action somehow got the freaking spoon to trip his blue-haired friend... which unfortunately resulted in Ogihci bursting out in laughter, Cabin Six's surprised and perverted reactions, and me ending up trapped under the bluenette. And he seemed to _like _it.

"'Sup, Ulqui?" he said through a massive rape smile.

"Get off!" I growled, trying to push him off. This apparently wasn't part of his plan, as all he did was smile and try to make himself more comfortable. And by "more comfortable", I mean just trying to make me even _more _uncomfortable.

It didn't help thst Luppi and Szayel were standing off to the side fangirling and Ogihci was cheering him on despite Tensa's attempts to stop him.

Grimmjow suddenly toppled over and off me with a yelp, much to my relief. I didn't know why until I looked up and saw Sung-Sun, of all people, glaring down at him. From the looks of it, she had just kicked him. Hard.

"Gah... What the hell?" he grunted, grabbing at his head.

She just turned away, calling him an idiot before rejoining the rest of the girls.

I stood up awkwardly, not really wanting to think about what that trash could have done. He actually forced me to, however, when he grabbed my ankle to prevent me from walking away.

"Where ya going, Emo Boy?"

Staring him down, I did the first thing that came into my mind.

I just kicked him where it hurts.

As I returned to my group (where Ogihci was having trouble breathing), Grimmjow, groaned out, "Oh come on! Not fair..."

"You deserved it," Tōshirō told him before walking off without a care in the world.

"Okay, show's over. Nothing to see here," Tensa announced in an attempt to break up the rather awkward gathering.

"Pffft... Hey Grimmy, this kinda reminds me of tha' time last year," Nnoitra remarked, totally ignoring Tensa.

Ogihci jumped at that opportunity. "Ooh, What happened?"

He grinned. "Ya guys really wanna know?"

Along with a large portion of the other campers, he cheered "Yes!" while Grimmjow yelled at him to shut up. Nnoitra just sat on his back.

"'Kay! Everyone gather 'round!" he sang evilly, looking much too like a demonic mall Santa.

"Hey! Get the hell off! Aren't you guys going to stop him? !" the trapped punk shouted desperately at the present counselors.

...And Gin was currently chasing a butterfly (again), while Urahara was, well...

"And this, my dear nephew, is a praying mantis!" he proudly told the apparently delighted audience member while allowing the large insect to crawl up his arm.

In short, they were both ignoring the situation. Perfect.

"Well, ya see..." the tall teen started, looking around at all of us dramatically.

"I hate you, Spoon!"

"Love ya too, Grimmy! Anyways... Last year, I found Grimmy here on tha computer."

"Please don't..."

Nnoitra ingnored this. "And he was... watchin' a certain video."

"Which one?"

"...Don't ask."

"Then what was the point of trying to tell us about it?" Ogihci demanded, angered by the lack of information.

"It was funny."

"...You're a dick. Ya know that?"

"Yep! Hey, if it makes ya feel better, than he was-" Nnoitra was cut short by Grimmjow somehow getting his arm around to slap him. He simply pinned the arm down and continued as if nothing had happened. "-On a date with Rosie Palms at tha time."

"_Oh_." The albino's face split out into a huge, perverted grin upon hearing that. Nel giggled and gave Harribel a knowing look, while she, Tensa and I just tried to _not _think about that.

"Damn you..." Grimmjow growled, trying to get out by kicking and scratching. That wasn't really working out for him...

"With who?" the bewildered Lilynette asked Starrk.

"Nobody, Lilynette," he quickly said, obviously not wanting to be the one to explain that particular term.

"But-"

"Nobody."

"...I'll explain it to her... Come on..." Nel offered uncomfortably. Well, I guess if someone was going to tell her, then a girl would be best...

"Leave me alone! I was drunk!" he shouted, now trying to hit anyone that he could reach.

"Sure you were," Szayel giggled, adjusting his glasses before scurrying off with his brother.

"Oh, come on. It's not that big of a deal... Ogihci! Quit it!" Tensa snapped, pushing the albino to prevent him from making anymore... odd gestures.

"...Are you coming?" he asked me, waving back towards the woods as Grimmjow and Nnoitra broke out into a fight that actually caught the counselor's attention.

Oh yeah. We were about to go try to find an old tree house. "I'll catch up with you guys later..." I replied, having noticed Harribel standing off to the side, staring at me intently.

He shifted his gaze then and saw her before smirking. "Nuh-uh. I want to see what you guys have been doing." As he said this, Ogihci stopped his "call me" gestures to pay attention to what I'm sure was _way _more interesting to them.

I sighed. "Fine. I don't think that you'll like it, though..."

Tensa just gave me an odd look before following me.

Harribel raised her eyebrow at my two tag alongs, and I just shook my head, hoping that she wouldn't actually ask. She just shrugged and messed with her phone for a moment before handing it to me.

"...What...?" I asked, trailing off as I took in the picture being displayed on the screen.

It truly was an odd picture. Judging by its blackness, it had been taken at night, though that really wasn't what was important about it. What really stood out was the focus of the picture- what looked like a light. A bluish-white light, to be precise. What she had said earlier came to mind, prompting me to look closer at the picture.

When Harribel had said 'a light', I had assumed that she meant something like a firefly or a Christmas light. You know, something small. Upon taking the barely visible tree that was in the image into consideration, however, it seemed that we were talking more around something softball-sized, maybe larger.

Something about it... It just looked like it should be there. That's what got me- it wasn't like most of those "ghost orb" pictures that people always show off, saying that they're a ghost when they're really just a bug or something. More like... it was just _there_. Like just another part of the environment, if that makes sense. Probably not, but that's the only thing that I can think of to describe it.

"What is that?" Tensa asked curiously, peering over my shoulder. In my study of the photo, I hadn't noticed both of my cabinmates creeping up behind me and looking over my shoulder. Ogihci seemed to really be enjoying himself there.

I pushed them off with a sigh and handed the phone back to its owner. "So _that's _the light?"

Harribel nodded and tapped something in on the phone.

_'Yes. It showed up again last night...'_

"...Light," Tensa said flatly, glancing at Ogihci.

"Told you you wouldn't like it."

"Yeah, well we kind of thought something else was going on between you two..."

"Nope. They just went all Ghostbuster on us," Ogihci remarked in fake-sadness, setting his hand on his shoulder.

"...I'm going to go see if I can find that treehouse now," the brunette mumbled, turning to walk off.

"You're not even remotely curious about everything?" I asked, knowing the answer.

He just sighed. "I am. It's just..."

Ogihci frowned, then marched up and grabbed Tensa's arm before dragging him off to the side. After about a minute of arguing, they wandered back.

"'Kay! So... Ghostbusters. Heh, it fits." From their demeanor, Ogihci had just barely convinced Tensa to not run off.

Harribel and I shared a suspicious look before she went for the phone again.

_'...I'm guessing that you guys don't know anymore than we do?'_

"Not really..."

"Okay then. Ghostbusters it is. Just don't chicken out," I proclaimed. Harribel nodded, Tensa looked down, and Ogihci's smile grew even more.

"Deal."

...

_Next..._

_It's the Fourth of July, and everyone's having fun in town. After a bit of fighting, flirting, and playing, some new information gets out, giving new clues to the past. Oh yeah...and Fireworks + Campers = ...Why the hell would you do this? ! ?_

* * *

***I'd like to remind everyone who's getting those thoughts in their heads that this is not a romance. Harribel just considers Ulquiorra a close friend. (Does that pairing exist? I'm pretty sure that it does... What have you people been smoking?)***

...

**A/N-** Poor Grimmy... and Lilynette, sorta. She's probably scarred for life now...

I'm baaack~! And, uh, I really do have a reason for not updating. Life. I'm not going to say much more because I don't want to bore you guys, but I haven't been that motivated lately... Just for this story, though. For some reason, I was getting hit by a lot of plot bunnies. Things got written...

Okay, I'm done with boring explanations. Hopefully, I'll be more on track now. I might update really early next week to make up for things, but I can't promise anything. I am going on vacation tomor- uh, today (I really need a watch...), and we have a pretty long drive to and from that top-secret location, so I'll probably be writing the whole time. And that means more chapters of this, possibly a oneshot. :)

I'm actually kinda nervous about this chapter... It was surprisingly hard for me to write. And it seemed really awkward to me. So review and tell me what you thought of it, I guess.


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